Category: cats

…when you have kittens? I’m currently sitting at the kitchen table. Monty is racing from the conservatory through the kitchen to the living room and back, carrying a length of red ribbon (favourite toy – who needs wind-up mice?) in his mouth, with Treacle about 2 inches behind him. It has to be said that his cornering ability when at speed on the lino needs some improvement.

…with kittens.
There will be pictures at some point, though not before Treacle has gained enough confidence to come out from under the bed. Actually, as I sit here typing this, I can hear Monty running around upstairs, exploring, playing and wrecking. If only some of his confidence would rub off on her!

Hels and I have been looking for a better guard to surround our wood-burning stove in the living room. At the moment we have a rather attractive guard that, whilst functional, could certainly not be described as kitten-proof. The DIY stores only stock very small ones (we need one about 75cm/30ins high, 60cm/24ins wide and 15cm/6ins deep), and hardly any that have a top as well as sides. I finally found a "nursery guard" in a local fireplace shop, much more functional than decorative, and feel I did a good job of not laughing out loud when the lady told me that it was more than £60!
Anyone got any idea where we could find something? We really only want something inexpensive, as we plan to start using the ornate one again as soon as the kittens are grown-up enough to be stove-aware.

We’ve just been visited by the lady from the RSPCA. She’s given us stern advice on the placing of litter trays, ensuring the toilet lid is left down (can apparently lead to very unamusing consequences with inquisitive kittens) and the importance of having poor Monty’s bits cut off as soon as they are big enough to cut off.
The upshot of it all is that we can now go and fetch our kittens, hopefully before Christmas. Hurrah!

UPDATE: they’ll be ready for collection on Wednesday at lunch time.

Well, the public has spoken and given a clear verdict in the cat naming poll. As it turns out, Rommel’s campaign was ill-fated. Sprout lead a late surge once the wind was up. But, ultimately, Nipples were way out front.
So, the decision is made. She’s (probably) going to be called Treacle. This means that every time we get home we can say

</coat>

I’m going to declare a winner on the cat name poll this evening, so hurry and vote now! Currently Sprout and Nipples are battling it out (ack! bizarre mental picture!) for first place, with Rommel trailing badly.
I fear it’s all irrelevant anyway, as the wifely veto is being called into play. Bah!

Scroll down or click here.