At least to a cat-lover, there is nothing more charming than a flock of kittens at play.

The Twins and Jonesie having dinner together

Jonesie is a very sweet kitten. Almost too good to be true........we have been waiting for the other shoe to drop. So far, he has been able to play with the other cats, even Jezibel, without any problems. They seem to be in awe of him, like us. The twins watch him, not believing yet, that they might have an actual playmate. Both of them have accepted him by licking him on his head. Kaci was kind of stand-offish when Jonesie first came, but yesterday, while she and Jonesie were waiting for their dinner, she licked him a couple of times on his head. Of course, she's always in a good mood while waiting for her dinner. But, he’s definitely our little fair-headed child. So far, he can do no wrong. But, we’ve only had him a week!

Jason and Jonesie by the fire

Last night I was watching TV. Since Sheila was outside, I decided to try to get the cats playing with each other. I found one of their favorite stick and string toys and started swishing it around the floor. Jonesie was already in the family room with me. He plays at the drop of a toy. He can chase a toy mouse around for hours (and not even lose it!). Then in came the twins and Jezibel. Lexi sat on the end table watching. She slapped at the toy when I waved it near her, but wouldn’t get down on the floor.

I had all four cats running and jumping. Then they would sit and watch while one went out and chased the toy and leapt and then they took turns at it. Jezibel managed to hiss at Jonesie if he came near her. Being a kitten, he just plays and doesn’t pay any attention to where he’s running or jumping. He wasn’t aware of anyone hissing. Although when he got near Lexi a couple of times, she growled and hissed. That kind of scared him. When she became too much of a distraction, I put her in her bed for the night. I think she was relieved to be out of the situation.

Jezibel with her Dad

Lexi, waiting to come in
12/30/10

Lexi is very sweet when she doesn’t have other cats around and she just loves to be petted. I can hold her like a baby and she kneads on my neck and purrs. I just wish she liked other cats.....

We almost gave Lexi away when she was a kitten. We had not planned on keeping any of the kittens. Of course it turned out that we kept three of the seven. One of our friends had a friend, John, who wanted a calico kitten. We were introduced to him at a wedding reception. He seemed nice enough. He said he had one cat and wanted another. We told him that when Lexi was old enough, he could see her and decide if he wanted her. When he saw her picture, he said “I don’t need to see her, I know I want her”. We said we’d be in touch, through our mutual friend.

Since Jezibel had so many kittens, she didn’t have enough milk for all of them and Charlie and I had to supplement the feedings. We bottle-fed the kittens several times a day. One night when we were feeding the kittens, they were all eager to eat except for Lexi. She was lying in the bed, not moving. She seemed to be awake, but very listless. When I picked her up, she was limp. We tried to rouse her, but it was like she was paralyzed. We took her to the vet. He examined her and really didn’t know why she was so limp. She was only 3 or 4 weeks old. He gave her a little Karo syrup mixed with water and she seemed to perk up, but still wasn’t normal. Basically he just told us to take her home and see if she recovered.

We brought her home and wrapped her in a blanket. She slept on my chest all night. I kept waking up and checking to make sure she was still alive. She survived the night. The next morning when we tried to feed her, she drank some of her formula and then slowly during the day started to perk up and act normal. We never did know why she was that way.

It was then that I decided that I wanted to keep Lexi. Before we could tell our friend that we weren’t giving Lexi away, he told us that John was losing his apartment and was looking for a place to live. It worked out fine. Who knows what would have happened to Lexi if John couldn't take care of her?

I do wonder sometimes if Lexi would have been happier if we’d given her to someone and she could be the only cat. She is such a loner. We love her for who she is though and we wouldn’t take anything for her now.

In no time at all Jonesie will be a big boy. He is going to grow so fast. We’re enjoying having a kitten again. The other night Charlie said that since we’ve raised so many kittens, he feels like we should be grandma and grandpa instead of mom and dad to Jonesie......no..... I don’t think so!

More later........

Taz, "The Baby"
December 1999