Pretty Kitties

These two are getting along perfectly!  They play together, eat together, groom each other, and sleep together.  Kira seems so much happier and playful now that she has a friend.  We've been working on helping Kira lose weight too and that is going pretty well.  Arien and Beren are going to the vet today for shots.  I'm probably crazy for taking them at the same time, but I think I've got my husband convinced to go with me.  I'll post an update on how it goes tomorrow.  

My Lovely Pets

I probably had a lot I wanted to say back when I took these pictures, but I can't even remember when I took these.  I also can't even remember the last update I gave, but in case anyone is wondering, the cats are getting along wonderfully!  I think Beren feels a bit left out sometimes now that the cats are best friends.  He gets jealous when Arien plays with his toys and if she does play with her own toys, he steals them to retaliate.  😂

Photo Dump

I can't believe I went this long without posting anything!  Sorry!  Arien is doing very well.  We are still working through issues with her waking us up during the night.  Somehow I seemed to have trained her not to mess with me, but unfortunately, she decided that just meant that she could mess with my husband instead.  Poor guy is still losing a lot of sleep because of her.  She is doing awesome during the day though!  She and Kira do SO much together, and I love seeing their relationship.  Beren has learned when they are playing and having fun and when they are getting mad.  He likes to step in if things get heated.  Kira seems much happier than she had been and doesn't spend as long each day just laying around sleeping, but instead spends a lot of time playing with Arien.  Arien is learning to be gentle with my husband and I.  She does still bite, but not very hard unless she's mad.  She really loves to cuddle and purrs SO loudly!  She's sleeping on me right now as I write this.  😊

These are from oldest to newest with the oldest being from Oct. 28 and the newest from today.

Busy as a Bee

Arien is almost always doing something!  She doesn't sit still very long, especially if she would rather play.  

Sleepy, Growing Kitty

These pictures are all oldest to newest.  As you can see, I am getting lots of pictures of Arien when she's sleeping.  That's because she is basically always on the move and likes to pounce on my phone if she sees me pull it out for a picture.  She spends a lot of time playing with Beren and Kira.  She tries to do everything Kira does which sometimes seems to upset Kira and sometimes seems to make her happy.  I think Kira really does like Arien, but gets annoyed that Arien has SO much energy.

8 weeks old

This precious, fluffy girl is officially 8 weeks old!  I never knew how my life would change when my mom called me saying there was a pet emergency at their house involving a feral cat that appeared to be having trouble after giving birth.  She had been dumped there earlier this year and had already given birth to her second litter (the first litter only had one kitten too).  My parents did what they could to help the mother, but in the end, she didn't make it.  She left behind this little kitten that I estimated to be born on September 1st.  I didn't intend to keep her, but when I realized she needed help, I decided I had to do everything I could to save her.  So on September 6th, I brought her home.  I was so focused on keeping her alive that I wasn't even considering keeping her and didn't intend to think about that until she made it to 8 weeks old.  But I started to notice that my husband really really liked her and then I quickly fell in love.  Arien is now old enough to go to her forever home, but she's found it already here with us.  😊  

The past 7 weeks of hand raising this little girl have been so awesome, and I am SO glad I did it!  She has SO much to learn still, but she is happy and healthy.  She's alive.  It definitely wasn't always easy with lots of lost sleep and tears along the way.  I want to take this moment to express some frustrations that I haven't talked about yet.  I love Arien, and I love that she gets a happy ending to her story, but for so many kittens, that isn't the case.  Lots of people talk about spaying and neutering pets and yes, that is important.  But there are so many feral cats that aren't getting spayed and neutered whose babies often die or they live and increase the feral cat population.  Feral cats often deal with illnesses, wounds from heated fights, and getting pregnant starting when they are far too young.  However, this doesn't have to be their fate.  There are programs already in place to help feral cats by spaying/neutering and giving vaccinations so they can live peacefully in the community.  If you know feral cats are living around you, please take the few minutes it takes to trap them and get them the help they need so there are less unwanted kittens left to suffer.