Fur Ball Habits

Simon's Cat - If you Love Cats - You gotta know who Simon's Cat is

From the previous two posts about how Will and Grace came to share my apartment with me I mentioned that both cats had their different habits that identified their unique characters ... here is a short list of the most quirky ones 

Eating Habits

Will and Grace eat from a twin food tray, it has two sectioned off bowls, I noticed almost immediately since they were kittens each cat always ate from one side of the bowl - from the first time I got them home. Will to the left and Grace to the right.  This goes on until one is fed up and the other one turns to finish off whatever is left.  That's usually Grace task to clean up the food dish. 

Litter Habits

While Will makes a project about using the litter tray and has been trying to dig a tunnel to Australia for the past six years, proceeding to covering his business over and over again until all the litter pearls are in one heap in a corner or all over the floor.


Grace can't be bothered she hops into the tray, does her business and is out of their before you can bat an eyelash - it's like she wants to disassociate herself with the task at hand.

Neither one of them will use the tray if for some God-forsaken moment mum is busy and hasn't replaced the contents of the tray with a fresh pack punctually every two and a half weeks.

Grooming

Will adores being brushed, he loved it from day one and never looked back, he used to trot to the bathroom when he was tiny and I'd carry him on the washing machine and he could sit there for as long as the brush kept on grooming him - he still is - however now he rushes from whatever he is doing as soon as I say "Brush" - he leaps on the washing machine and I'm not allowed to stop brushing him until he's had enough.  He walks around the square area to make sure all of him is brushed, being short coat cats neither of them need a lot of grooming but Will does like the one on one attention with the Brush!  Grace gets her moment once or twice a weak but it's her call ... she turns up at the washing machine and when she does ... she get brushed!!!

Nail trimming is a different story, I encounter a different side to both cats, they forget they are gentle loving furballs when they see the special scissors - I have to wear my winter dressing gown to protect my limbs from being shredded - eventually after all is done and I shower them with kisses and treats the trauma is quickly forgotten and they get back to our normal lives - sleep - eat - sleep - groom - sleep - nag - sleep nibble. 

Photo courtesy of NASA

Morning Habits

Will & Grace grew into adorable cats and loving companions, they both have but one terrible habit which over the years I have not managed to get them to stop doing.

When young cats they would remain asleep until they heard me walk out of the bedroom in the morning or heard my pottering about in the flat.  However one year in particular when we change the clocks for daylight saving time something clicked in both of them and they started waking up before the sun was up and most importantly before I was up, expecting breakfast, although I would have left some dry food out overnight they demand breakfast to be served.  I cannot explain in words what goes on in my bedroom so I will leave you to enjoy Simon's Cat its very close to what happens to me - but I don't keep a baseball bat under my bed !  I must point out that the mastermind mind is always Grace, Will is usually nagging for food from the end of the bed or the carpet near the bed but Grace she puts her heart and soul into making sure I'm up ...

Link to Simon's Cat

The Balls of Fur take over the Apartment

It took very little time for the three of us to get used to each other - the first days that Will & Grace moved into the apartment where part of a bridge long weekend, so I spent all my time at home with them.

I remember the first night as if it was yesterday, I kissed their little heads good night and settled them on their little bed with their new blanket.  As I made my way to my bed room, Grace started to follow keeping her distance - I doubt that she had ventured as far as the bedroom yet!  As I was getting ready for bed I heard a tiny squeak and I found her at the door looking at me quizzically as if to say - "where are you going, I hope you're not planning to leave us out in the front room ALONE?"  A few moments later she was joined by her brother, timid little Will ... as they both sat at the threshold of my room I told myself I couldn't let them sleep alone.

So I brought their bed and blanket into the bedroom and placed them just by my bed on a rug ... Will was trying to see what was beyond the bed so I carried him and put him gently on my quilt, in a flash Grace had jumped up on the bed, walked the perimeter and settled nicely in the gap between the two pillows.  That would remain Grace's spot and hiding place for many months to come ... and the bed - well let's say it became shared territory.

My Our bed ... Grace is at the far end snoring while Will is in a slumber

A few days after adoption day, I started to realise what creatures of habit cats really are!  I had read about it but seeing these two little creatures performing their little habits was fascinating - I will be writing about their quirks in the coming days.  Before picking up the kittens, I had  scheduled an appointment with a VET to have them checked out, he was going to be pleasantly surprised that now there where two!  I put Will & Grace in their travel box with their fluffy blanket and ventured out into the elevator and to the garage, all was fine until we got to the car and I started the engine ... Grace wasn't at all keen on this new experience.  On their first trip home they must have been to engulfed in their little world to realise what was going on.  Let's just say that no matter how slow or fast I drove, if I had the music on or off, if the travel box was covered or not, if the windows where up or down, Grace was kicking a hell of a fuss - Will did a little whimpering but certainly not striking the cords his sister was!  After the torturous drive that took 30 minutes we arrived at the VET's clinic and once out of the moving car and into the clinic Grace was well behaved compared to the other cats which where hissing and dogs barking their faces off.  

The doctor examined them both and told me that they were healthy, that Will needed a bit more nutrition to catch up with his sister and that they where infested with flees .... OH MY GOD ... I was shocked, but he said that after a couple of days of using a special spray we would be rid of these blood sucking pests - I should have expected it really but I was too engulfed in the fluffiness of their fur to look closely!  Lesson number one: check their fur for flees every so often!  We scheduled dates for their next shots and I listened to the advise given by the doctor to consider neutering one or both of them ...   We where out of there, back to my Ka and back to the screaming entertainment from my little drama queen.

Not Will Neither Grace!!!

When I got home I attempted to give the kittens a bath before I applied the pest spray, the car ride was one thing but getting Her Highness wet was a completely different story.  Neither Will or Grace where too keen on getting wet - that was Lesson number two: my kittens hate water - I also realised that nothing was happening with regards to the pests since they remained attached to their fur and the little ones were getting extremely distressed and worked up.  I dried them off in a towel, applied the spray and waited until the next day to groom them with a thin comb and get them Flee Free!  It wasn't an easy tasks since their bodies where still so small and fragile, but with a lot of patience and a pinch of TLC I manage to get the task done. Healthy and bug free Will and Grace continued to explore and get accustomed to their new life with me as their mummy.

Will's appetite started to increase and he had more energy to run around and play with the toys - he was especially fond of a feather hanging off some elastic and stick - he would grab the feather and run all over the apartment with it as if his life depended on it.  Grace was also making sure her baby brother gets better, I would see her fuss over him and lick him - they had really bonded and that made me think of what a mistake it would have been to adopt one kitten alone.  Will and Grace where meant to be a team!

Grace was very fond of playing hide and seek and if nobody noticed she was playing well - she started to scream loud enough that I'de hear her, panic, stop whatever I was doing and go in search of her ... Once she was have discovered she'd wonder off as if nothing had happened - such a snob! Grace still plays at hide and seek to this day although she isn't a young kitten any more.  She normally hides at the opposite end of the apartment so that I can go look for her.

I had to train myself to always look into a cupboard before closing the door since both of them have a knack of getting into the pantry or the wardrobe without me noticing.  There have been times when I spend too much time staring at the open wardrobe trying to decide what to wear and Grace would go in and make herself comfortable on the shelf where I keep my tees ... I would also close the doors after I'm done, not realising she's in there until Will sits himself in front of the door calling me until I come back and check the wardrobe ... Her Highness straddles out as if from a cat walk!  Will always has Graces back when it comes to these things. 

During the early days of the adoption I couldn't wait to get back home after work or after a dive I would be eager to spend time with my babies - they always greeted me at the door ... Grace always doing a turn on her side when she saw me - so cute :)

Will and Grace usually had their first meal of the day while I had breakfast, some soft kitten food followed by a hand full of crushed dry food for them to nibble on during the day, together with a bowl of fresh water.  The Vet had recommended that I start them off on Science Plan food from Hills and they seems to like it - that has been their diet ever since, occasionally I buy different wet food since the Science Plan brand only has Pate here in Malta and they seem to prefer the chunks of food that come in jelly or grave so we alternate tastes and flavours. They are very fond of their treats which I give them for being the well behaved little companions that they are.

Grace playing hide & seek

....the habits of Will & Grace will follow....

Adopting my balls of fur

Around six years ago my life took a bit of a turn - I returned to being single and living alone in my apartment, a home I had previously shared with my husband. I started to feel lonely in the large space, so my support network who where my closest friends suggested that I get a Pet.

I hadn't had a pet in a very long time, in my adult hood my then fiancée and I tried to keep a fish aquarium but it didn't last much and in my younger years I had a Hamster called JJ who had a knack of finding a way to get out of his cage and nest behind the living room wall unit among all of my father's stereo system wiring.... JJ never got short circuited but dad did a few times.... JJ lived with us for a couple of years as hamsters do.  After JJ I had a pet duck which we kept in our yard - mum wasn't Donald's biggest fan since it is a messy pet ... Donald was evicted and he moved with his cousins in the country side in Wardija in a large enclosure with a real pond, real rocks and several huts .... He lived happily there until old age.  

That's about as much experience as I have with pets.... I can’t recall how many times I tried to smuggle puppies and kittens into dad's car at the end of our Sunday visits at grandpa's in Wardija ... but mum would smell the animal in the car, start a hissy fit and dad would have to turn back and take a crying me and a sad little fur ball back to where I'd nicked it ... unhappy days...

Now that I'm older I understand why mum wouldn't let me keep the pet, I wasn't responsible enough to take care of it and its need.

Well this time round things are different; I live alone, I'm the queen of my castle and I'm going to get a pet!  A dog was my first choice, due to its loyalty, the fact that having a dog would mean I would do more exercise, I could interact with the dog and play games with it, but there again; I live in an apartment, a large one but nevertheless it’s an apartment, with no garden, no access to the outdoors except for two balconies & I'm on the second floor.  I also always worked long hours so the dog would be alone for 10 hours to say the least Monday to Friday.  It would certainly be a selfish act to get a dog ... Dog idea scrapped, the next best thing is to get a cat ... I never liked the idea of having a pedigree pet, there are so many homeless adoptable animals why should I pay someone to buy a fur ball when I can adopt one, give it a home and spend the money otherwise spent on a pedigree to feed and keep the animal healthy. I was browsing Animal Shelter websites and wrote to one in particular stating my interest in homing an abandoned cat or possibly a kitten.

A few days later I received an email informing me that the sanctuary had a pregnant cat and she was expected to give birth in a few days, was I interested in adopting a kitten? - Well of course I'm interested!!!  In a matter of days the cat gave birth to a litter of 11 kittens and I was invited to go pick a kitten which I would be homing 6 weeks down the line.

I remember driving down to the south of the Island and getting to the address of the volunteer who had taken the cat to her house so that the kittens would be born in a "home" environment and litter trained to facilitate adoption.  when I got to the house there were a couple of cats outside in the garden and I could hear several others indoors ... when the door opened I was greeted by some 30 or so cats and an overwhelming smell - the house was extremely clean but the cat smell was overpowering .... I recall turning to my friend and telling her - "will my flat smell like this?"  She was one of my closest friends and the brain behind my adoption program "NO" she replied pointing out that I was about to adopt ONE cat and not thirty ... she as right and I was being paranoid.

The lady who I had made arrangements with led us through the house while eyes from all the corners where checking us out, some cats started hissing, some cats where maimed, while others strolled with us and rubbed their lovely coats against our legs ... I was feeling quiet excited to see the litter of cats.  I had already decided that I would rather adopt a male cat and his name was already half chosen but I still had to meet him so I kept the name to myself (and thank God I did thinking about it, it was a ridiculous name).

We got to a room which looked like a storage/washroom which housed another 10 or so cats and in a corner in a box there was a beautiful ginger cat with 11 tiny fur ball kittens most of them suckling while others sleeping in a corner of the box all huddled up to their mother.  The lady explained that the cat had 11 kittens which had all survived but they seemed to come from two different males - she invited me to pick one of the kittens and eventually after 6 weeks I could come and collect it.  One kitten was all by itself close to its mothers tail shaking in the cold he was grey with white and had a lovely spot on his nose ... I immediately decided that that cat would be coming home with me, the lady politely asked me to make a second choice....I was baffled, she explained that he seemed to be the weakest of the litter and might not make it since he wasn't drinking as much as the others.  I was a bit surprised I was still holding the little creature in my hand and he did seem smaller then his siblings, now that I compare but still.... I didn't make a second choice and told her that if he didn't make it in six weeks time we will see.

She was a very nice lady and promised me she will keep a close eye on it and give it extra attention to make sure it survives.

Six weeks can be a long time to wait ... I called her very often, I think I was bugging her a bit but I was worrying about my little grey ball of fur ... her updates where that he was improving but remains the smallest of his siblings.

I visited a pet shop and started buying stuff for the kitten, I got him a small bed, a food and water bowl, and I bought a book about taking care of cats and researched the most suitable food on the market...a friend also helped me build a cat scratcher so it had my personal touches.

Time to drive back to the house of 30 cats and pick up my companion ... armed with treats and a cosy blanket which I had kept in bed with me the previous nights so that it would get my scent ... just as the book said!  My friend had to drive my car all the way since I was too excited to be behind the wheel - We finally arrived, this time the smells didn't bother me I homed into the storage/washroom walking slowly behind the lady who had arthritis in her legs and had difficulty walking, I could have carried her into the back room just to get there faster!

The kittens where all over the room meowing away, some where eating others playing, but there was no sign of my grey kitten ... what happened??? He was trying to get to the food bowl but all the other kittens where trampling over him and he seemed to have given up.  The lady picked him up gently and gave him to me; he was so tiny compared to the rest ... his head looked huge compared to the thin body.  She explained that she had been feeding him with a bottle for the first weeks since he was never getting to his mother for milk and then she was weaning him to kitten food but he was still not eating as much as the other kittens.  While I was holding him he was shaking in my hands he wasn't kicking a fuss he just curled up and blinked at me through sticky eyes.  In the meantime at the far end of the room there was a little ball of fur screaming her mouth off sounded louder than all the other cats and seems to be somewhat angry at me.... what was her problem?

The caretaker explained that she had been "mothering" my kitten for the past weeks, she seemed to have grown attached to him and although she was from the same litter she gave the weakest kitten a lot of attention.  She also told me that she still didn't have high hopes for my kitten and that I should make a choice to adopt another one so that I wouldn't be heart broken if it didn't make it.

I was having none of that, and made up my mind to take two kittens not because i was afraid my grey one wouldn't make it but I wanted it to have some company when i went to work, so I asked the lady to get me the screaming kitten.  She was Calico with a white belly and round face ... her coat seemed fluffier then the grey one in my hand.  The female cat kicked up a fuss, scratching and screaming.... hmmmm.... we put them both in the cat box to see the reaction and she calmed down.... the decision was made - I adopted both of them.

Will huddled up on the left and Grace checking something out on the right - 6 weeks old 

When I got to the car I was still overwhelmed with the abrupt decision that had just taken place and the fact that I had never cared for a cat, let alone two ... oh well what goes for one should go for the other as well I suppose.  My friend asked me what I was going to call the two cats now.  Hmmm I had only thought of one name which I had decided to scrap.  At the time I was an avid fan of the sit com on TV – Will & Grace – and then the cats with no name where called .... Will & Grace, I was on my way home with two little fur balls a beautiful Calico cat with a pure white belly and a gold heart on its sternum she was called Grace while Will is tabby patterned also with a pure white belly.

Once we got home, Grace immediately ventured out of the cat box to look around and explore, always keeping a close eye one me.  Since Will didn’t come out I got him out and put him on the floor to see how he would react to this new environment – he waddled close to the sofa I was sitting on and looked up, which I understood as a message that he wanted me to carry him up onto my lap – that’s where he spent the next first hours of his first day living with me, while Grace on the other hand perched herself in a corner without taking an eye of me or Will!  I had a strange feeling of being watch.  After a while I placed some food in their food bowl and Grace immediately paddled off to inspect what was on offer and from the crunching it became clear that she approved. Will had some soft food and after a couple of hours both little kittens where exploring the living room, kitchen and venturing into the corridor as well.

Our adventure had begun ....

....the story of Will & Grace continues .....