stephbg | Repopulating Sector 7

On Friday 13th of June on the day of the full moon I went to Cat Haven and chose a kitten to become part of our family here at Sector 7. We are now a complete cat home again with the maximum number of three kitties as allowed by law. I am a crazy cat lady once more.

It's true that not much time has passed since we said goodbye to Cally, my stalwart friend of 20+ years, and such haste might have seemed unseemly. But we had our reasons, based firmly in feline harmony. Buffy and Boris Giles were understandably disturbed by Cally's disappearance, and her departure also left a power vacuum. If we were going to introduce a new cat into the household I wanted it to be while the hierarchy was still uncertain, and not to let them settle only to introduce yet another big change. In a way I wanted to slip the new cat in under the radar. Obviously the current cats were going to notice an intruder, so I wanted him or her to be as non-threatening as possible, and the easiest way to do this was to bring in a kitten.

World, meet TribbleJ.

The Cat Haven was having a Black Friday special on black cats and kittens as they are often difficult to rehome. I was actually there when a helper brought in a newly-processed litter of kittens to go into the Kitty Cam enclosure. For purely aesthetic reasons I'd slightly hoped to find a compatible tabby or patterned kitten to round out the family, but I was happy to take another black one. But perhaps fluffy... "Jason" was the mostly black tuxedo kitten from that newly-arrived litter that caught my eye, and the first and only one I actually cuddled. (If you'd been watching Kitty Cam at the time you might have seen my arm enter the enclosure to snatch him away from a food bowl.) He lay very calmly in my arms and essayed a purr. It was enough. As a complete bonus he had white paws, and I've always had a Thing for white paws. His notes said he was shy, and needed a quiet home. Shy was good in a new arrival, and since Sector 7 lacks dogs, kids, and a decent stereo system we certainly qualified on the quiet front.

Sold, and a complete bargain at the sale price of $100 (he was black enough to qualify for the discount) including de-sexing, micro-chipping, worming, flea treatment and vaccination. The rest of his litter were snatched up at a similarly quick rate – kittens were flying out the door, and one super cute fluffy one was nearly the cause of a riot as *four* people wanted him/her at once. Hopefully over the course of the weekend some adult cats were also given new homes. If circumstances had allowed I would have liked to haven taken in a bonded pair of young adults, but it was not to be.

Once in the car Jason was quickly rechristened Tribble and I spent most of the drive home saying his name. To my delight he responded with very tribble-like trills, and didn't seem too upset by the journey. Poor thing had had a very big day. It wasn't until we were pulling in to the carport (and possibly as I glanced at the silent radio) that Tribble suddenly became TribbleJ. The "J" doubled as a tribute to his original if briefly-held name of Jason (not that I'm a fan of the Friday the 13th movies). I haven't actually listened to Triple J for a long time, but in the past clocked up plenty of hours listening. I'm sure they won't mind the liberty.

TribbleJ is very relaxed around people.

When we got home and settled in the isolation area I was able to give him a closer look, and to my horror I discovered a couple of fleas on his white tummy. Given that most of him was black, who knew how many he had? I recalled our long and tender embrace, and instantly felt itchy. So I left him at home and jumped back in the car to the local vet for some instant knock-'em-dead medication – nothing like a pill to start a new relationship. According to his paperwork he'd been treated for fleas on that day, but Dr Laura said that she would have expected that to clear them all by this time in the afternoon. The next day I got confirmation that he had been treated, but that with a big infestation it might not get all of them. A big flea infestation might explain why he was so placid at first.

The day he came to us was probably the first time he'd been separated from his siblings, so he enjoyed contact.

It took an hour or two for the flea pill to take effect (it was safe whether or not he'd had the other treatment), and then the poor little fellow was very itchy and agitated as the fleas got sick and restless. I managed to pick out about 20 struggling fleas and dealt mercy with a rather rough thumbnail guillotine across the body. Fleas are very hard to kill! Kittens are very squirmy! I think it was a bonding experience though, as I combed through his hair and removed the itchy little things. He seemed visibly relieved when some of them were removed (especially one in his ear) and in the end I was Mum and he didn't struggle so much.

Between lighting and heating TribbleJ has clocked up an impressive carbon footprint on his first few days here. I made a mistake on the first night and left him in darkness, which is why I think he wet his bedding (but thankfully missed the wheat pack buried beneath). There have been no further accidents (that I've discovered) so he is definitely house-trained. He excavates his little holes with much enthusiasm and flying kitty litter. As a new mother it is necessary for me to report that his first poos were impressively firm, although since then they've softened a bit as he reacts to a change in diet. His appetite is great. We're still trying to figure out how to keep everybody fed with their separate diets, so there's been some shuffling of feeding stations.

After a couple of days and finally free of vampiric fleas he is by no means shy. He's a bold and happy playful little chap and I look forward to his company in the next 20 years or so.

This went a bit long so I'll post separately about TribbleJ's first encounters with Buffy and Boris Giles. In short, the introductions went well and their relationships are improving daily.