New Year, New Kittens

Having lost a cat last may that was one in a billion, I had no intentions of ever adding more cats to the household. Watching the vitality ebb out of our home and the remaining cats, it became apparent that something needed to be done. Watching my number one cat, Snooky, gain a massive amount of weight since Ragnar’s disappearance made me realize just how sedentary she had become without a male to show off in front of.

My sister’s quest for a long hair tiger tabby for the holidays ended up roping me into things including a visit to a pet store. Eventually she got a short hair tabby tiger after no luck.

At one point after getting home, I thought I had a solid lead on a part Maine Coon that evaporated into nothing once Christmas passed. Looking for a simular kitten was equally fruitless in this region with my search engine skills failing me for once. Then wading through far too many pages deep in a search found a listing on something I didn’t even know existed: eBay Classifieds.

While the kittens listed weren’t guaranteed to be long hairs, they had an intriguingly odd heritage. The father was a Mink Ragdoll while the mother a cross of Persian and domestic. Two black males, one male tabby tiger, a female orange tabby over white, and a tortiseshell were the offspring and they were going for cheap. Though the location was one hundred miles away, the idea of a kitten potentially having the laid back Ragdoll personality was alluring since Snooks is the jealous type, not to mention dominant.

Problem was the listing was weeks old during a season where people were advertising on Craigslist looking for kittens.

An email and a message in voicemail were left and soon I got a response. To my surprise, all the kittens were still available.

Dad and I decided a roadtrip was in order to decide which two kittens would work best. Looks were something of a priority, but when it comes to cats, a special personality or instant bond trump that.

I can report that Baron has the looks and his sister Toph has the personality. While he passed the purr test, he’s somewhat shy. Toph is anything but shy, filled with boundless energy, curiosity, and charm. Dead last in the looks competition with her siblings, the kitten showed an instant awareness and a fire in her spirit I couldn’t resist.

Both Baron and Toph handled the over two hour trip home very well once I move to the back seat to be with them as they dealt with the frustration of being in a cat carrier. Once set free, they did something I’ve never seen – an immediate exploration of the first floor of the house without any hiding. Ten minutes of that satisfied their initial curiosity and the battle was on with each other, my boots, Dad’s clothing, and anything else that looked like fun.

Toph is hard to photograph since she’s always in motion when awake. At the moment, she’s crashed on my bed after watching me edit the photos for this post. Not sure where Baron is, but I’d bet the shy boy is sleeping somewhere more remote.

The suspicion is that Baron will end up growing out to a long hair, though I’d bet medium will be more likely. His mother has hair that is like silk to the touch and is the prettiest tortie I’ve personally seen. One thing is certain and that is his hair is longer than that of his siblings. Given how beautiful his marbled markings are, I wouldn’t care if Baron turns out to be a short hair.

While he didn’t inherit his father’s blue eyes, they are grayish for the moment. Toph’s are already golden, so it will be interesting to see what his mature into.

More photos will be taken of the little darlings. Meanwhile, time for them to rest up, the pictures revealed just how dirty the floor is and I want to vacuum after they are recovered.