HRS kittens: round 3

Domestic Felines

Round III

updated: 04 Dec 05

These photos are in chronological order; click here to get to the most recently UL'd ones

Alice & Hrothgar with their mother, 4 June 2005 in NE DC -- two days before The Move

6 June 2005: a few hours into their new environment, Alice & Hrothgar discover the joys of braided rugs and tassels....

07 June 2005: getting a bit more comfortable with their environment....

10 June 2005: a new piece of exercise equipment gets added...

... and gets a work-out almost immediately

Hrothgar, resting from his exertions.

10 June 2005: still confined (except for special excursions) to the sunroom....

A bit out-of-focus.... Alice & Hrothgar celebrate the Fourth of July with their first meal in the kitchen.

First commercial kitty-toy, a gift from sister-in-law Diana

Any excuse to climb/explore....

Not yet quite a full armful....

The chocolate mouse that came in this box is long gone -- just as well, since cats & chocolate don't mix. But, who cares? -- the box itself is a lot of fun.

Do not even think about messing with my box-toy....

Hrothgar gets the "sliding-injection" treatment from Dr. Tom Ramirez at Alpine Vet, as Shanti looks on.

At least my humanoid care-provider has the good taste to get curtains that match my eyes...

The whole world is a cat toy....

This toy lasted a little less than a week... (the kitties now have color-coded collars)

Sometimes Alice gets wrapped up in her environment.

Tony Simione - a charter member of FOHC ("Friends of Howard's Cats)

More FOHC -- Cathryn Wanders and Jeff Hart from Choral Arts.

Turf-defending on a recycled fence-post

Boundaries: Hrothgar on the inside looking out....

...and, a few minutes later, from the outside looking in.

Now begins the saga of introducing a new kitten [story to follow later; for now, it's just photos...] Half-sib of Alice & Hrothgar, and currently assessing how well she fits with her preselected name of "Florence Victoria", little FV (born 7 August 2005) was finally located, boarding in a friendly brownstone in Mt. Pleasant, where she and three litter-mates had a private bedroom:

(that's FV in the foreground...)

Her brother, on the hassock, has markings as if his father were a box-turtle...; the other two sibs look a lot like A&H..

Definitely ready for their close-up...

Their boarding-house provided a very cat-friendly environment..

All the above were taken at the boarding-home , c. 9:40 am on Saturday, 15 October 2005. By 10:05, FV was at her new home:

First Encounter -- in the Kitchen with Hrothgar...

The Eagle has landed .... in her litterbox in the upstairs sunroom, where she'll be spending her first few days in protective isolation.

FV's first meal in her new home.

This toy is all mine...

Claw-sharpening is highly encouraged on my climbing-log...

Amy Leonard is FV's first visitor.

For the first few days, the Elder Kittens see their half-sib only through a glass darkly....

My highly-evolved protective coloring makes me invisible whenever I can find an environment dominated by machine-made rugs..

The following Tuesday afternoon (18 October), FV gets fed for the first time in the kitchen; Hrothgar is concentrating on his food, while Alice is eyeing the intruder/upstart...

The next morning, FV and Hrothgar begin to sniff each other out....

... and begin to share the climbing-post.

FV and Hrothgar share a bowl of nibblies.

Uh-oh... this "baby-rodent-toy" looks entirely too realistic... With my cats in charge of Homeland Security, I rest easier...

Alice and Flovic [the form into which FV's name has evolved...] are now able to be near each other without hissing (so long as food is involved...)

Flovic the Ferocious courageously subdues an already-ripped-apart commercial rodent replica...

Flovic & Hrothgar are getting along just fine...

... and Alice is OK now too.

After that peaceful morning with her half-sibs, Flovic gets her first visit to Alpine, where she meets Dr. Alice Sartain.

Assisted by Tammy, Dr. Alice checks Flovic for Feline Leukemia.

Dan Fisher, another charter member of FOHC: "A man never stands so tall as when he stoops to form a feline foundationstone..."

Alice is either: (a) practicing for her role as bride in a Jewish wedding, or (b) completely oblivious to the fact that I need to move some furniture...

Dan Fisher demonstrates that Hrothgar has become quite an armful...

The oak tree (which until 1979 was growing in the Pine Barrens of NJ) has been moved from the sunroom to the dining room, in the (vain) hope that the cats will prefer scratching it to the rugs; Flovic tests out the rope.