This week we welcomed two new kittens to the herd, Sylfyr and Morrigan. They’re cute little critters, and total sweethearts. They’re a lot tinier than they look in the pictures; they’re maybe 8″ long, not including their tails, and Morrigan is the smaller of the two.
Morrigan is named for the ancient Celt goddess of the same name. Sylfyr is Old Norse for “silver.” Because look at her.
Sylfyr is big on vertical exploration, trying to jump from the bed to the dresser, then down onto the floor so she can hide under the bed or dresser. And then making a break for the landing.
Morrigan keeps getting down to the floor, but isn’t as obsessed with climbing as Sylfyr. She’s also a face-licker. I was holding her yesterday, and she climbed right up my shirt and started licking my face. Maybe she’s just affectionate like that, maybe she was reacting to my scruffy beard.
And they’re both biters. It took Sylfyr all of an hour and change to bite Stacie, and they’re both bitten my fingers. It’s OK though, they don’t bite hard and they have those delicate little kitten teeth, so it doesn’t hurt. Even if they do manage to draw blood (either by biting or using their wee little claws), I’m taking a pile of antibiotics on a semi-permanent basis specifically to prevent bloodborne infections.
Luckily, before we got them, Morrigan and Sylfyr were part of a dozen-strong cat colony, and spent the last week or so at their old home inside with the indoor cats. So they’re used to being around full-sized cats aside from their mom. Their whole attitude is “why can’t we play with those other cats?” We’re keeping them separate for the time being until they get their shots and checkups — they were semi-outdoor cats and part of a colony. We want to be sure they don’t have anything.
Peanut and Sweety-Pie haven’t quite adjusted to their presence, but they’re coming around. We think they suspected they were being replaced. Preposterous! If anything, we replaced Finn and Baby — as if it was even possible to do so.
Sweety-pie isn’t hissing every time she gets within three feet anymore, and she stood there and examined Sylfyr when Stacie held her in front of her face. She only reacted when Sylfyr playfully took a swipe at her nose. So that’s a definite improvement. She was definitely Mama’s cat, and it took her a long time to cope with Mama being dead. It’s taken years to get her to come hang out with me in my office, and she doesn’t usually like anyone petting her.
As for Peanut, she seems genuinely concerned every time she hears them crying (as kittens will do). We’re predicting she’s going to go full Mama Cat for them in the near future. Which makes sense, given she took over for Baby when I get home from the hospital nowadays, and that was her self-appointed role.
So yeah, we’re back up to four critters, all cats, all girls.