So far, everything has been going really well. Andy has turned out to be the best kitten ever -- full of spunk, curiosity, confidence and love. He's so cute there needs to be a new word for him. Cutastic, as one of my friends said. As you can see, he loves harassing me while I'm on the computer.
He's getting along with Maddy better than I expected. I thought I'd have to wait 2 weeks to introduce them, but Andy kept darting out of his room, and he went straight to Maddy and has been harassing her ever since. That was Friday, the day after I brought him home! Here's a sweet video of them hanging . . .
When I picked him up, I felt bad separating him from his mommy and sister. But the minute we got in the car he started playing with a ball in his carrier, and doing this . . .
He is a champ at the litter box -- we even slept at my friend's house last night and he was perfectly fine. He sleeps with me and doesn't wake up at all through the night, though the first night I left him in his room, but felt really guilty, because he had never been alone before, but he was so tired he had no idea. I just didn't want to freak him out too much the first day meeting Maddy.
He's OK at eating. We have a vet appt tomorrow, and hopefully we will resolve his pickey-ness and penchant for Maddy's food!
Here he is, Mr. Raggedy Andy Warhol! Here he is on the left with his siblings . . .
How did I pick him from these 3 cuuuuuute kitties? He licked me and then purred when i held him and then rolled on his back and was just generally snuggly and sweet.
He is mismarked apparently, but I think he's perfect. His brother has better markings, but seems more aloof. Here is his sis, a blue mitted bicolor . . .
I managed to talk the breeder into letting the kitten stay with her for 10 more days. I know it isn't a month, but it's something. Yes, I am aware this isn't a good practice, to let the kittens go at 6 weeks. But I visited the house, which is beautiful, and she takes great care of the cats, and the moms and dad are beautiful, soft friendly sweet purrballs. Also, there are only about 3 or 4 Ragdoll breeders here in Minneapolis, they are hard to come by.
As far as coloring goes, they are unusual, in that they are all mitted bicolors! She said she is trying to bring the color back, which is one of the original Ragdoll colors. There are 3 to choose from -- a blue mitted female, and 2 seal mitted males, one with a mismark on his nose, and the other with a nice bicolor face, apparently. I will post pics tomorrow, when I go visit!
Male or female? Which will get along better with Maddy?? I always thought I'd get a male. I have always had male cats. But maybe it would be fun to have 3 girls in the house!
OK check this out . . . My Mom's cat passed away a few weeks ago, and he was her baby. She bought every cat thing you could imagine, and guess who got them all? My cat will be so spoiled he will have no idea what to do. Here are some pics . . .
First of all, the baby gate to keep the dog out . . .
TaDa! It is usually an office/guest room. Now it is an office/reading/cat room. I am looking forward to spending hours in there with the little one while they get their bearings and begin to kind of hang out with the dog through the gate.
I have a feeling the baby will freak on the drapes, so I'll pull them back if I need to. Check out the deluxe cat tree. It matched my parent's place in the early 90s. Also, the litter cabinet was delivered today, and instead of finishing a bunch of work, I put it together, pimped the room, and am now blogging about it.
The cabinet . . .
Sweet water purifier . . . I will add a mat when they are big enough to get up there. For now I'll put the water and food on the ground.
I am trying to decide on a name. I have 2 in mind, and I guess I'll decide when I actually bring him home and see what fits him best. The first is Raggedy Andy Warhol. Get it? Raggedy Andy since he is a Ragdoll, and Andy Warhol, since I am a pop artist . . . hahahahaha. I would just call him Andy, though. But it might be too close to Maddy, and they might get confused. The other name is Wilco. I love the band Wilco, and I think it would make for a really cute cat name. So, what should it be?
Raggedy Andy Warhol . . .
Or Wilco?
Another consideration is what color cat? I personally don't care, I think they are all cute. All I care about at this point, is if he gets along with Maddy. I told the breeder to choose for me, and to pick one who would get along best with a GSD!
But, it's always fun to look at the coloring options. Ragdolls come in a few colors and patterns, here are some pics . . .
This is a seal mitted Ragdoll. It's points (ears, tail and legs) are seal colored, with white feet, and a white chin. Some have blazes on their noses . . .
This is a seal point ragdoll . . .
This is a seal bicolor ragdoll . . . they have white tummies and white legs with a dark saddle on their backs . . .
This is a blue point mitted kitten . . .
And here is a blue point . . .
I love them all. Well, enough for now, I will post next week when the new baby arrives!!!!
Hi, I'm Erin, and I'm about to adopt a kitten. Er, more specifically, I'm buying a Ragdoll kitten from a breeder. OK OK, before anyone goes and chastises me for buying a cat from a breeder, I donated the same amount I spent on the kitten to the local Humane Society. I also went several times to the shelter, the same shelter where my family adopted 2 cats over the years, and where I adopted one cat. And they were great cats -- loving healthy well adjusted cats. I visited the shelter 3 times and met many many cute lovely sweet cats that I want to take home. But a lot of them had medical problems, and none were guaranteed to get along with the most important fur-person here, Maddy, the GSD.
Here she is . . ..
Maddy is seriously the best dog in the world, everyone who knows her would agree. She has the awesome bent ear, tons of personality, and she's my little shadow. I bring her everywhere, we live in the city. And when we're not walking or visiting someone, she comes with me to work, and hangs out under my desk while I'm on the computer.
My boyfriend used to live here, too, with his cat Rafi . . . Maddy and Rafi were awesome buds . . . .
But, alas, the boyfriend and Rafi moved out in February, and Maddy is now an only child. When Rafi first came into the picture, he was already 4 months old, so he was a bigger kitten. It turned out that Rafi was the most laid back cat to ever have lived, even as a youngster. He would let Maddy do anything to him, (Maddy was 1 at the time -- much more hyper than she is now) which kind of scared me at first, and resulted in me having more than a few nightmares . . .
Maddy never hurt him . . . well, actually, she did bite his ear once when we were gone, resulting in the cat having a pierced ear for awhile, but it healed and he was fine. I miss that cat he was sooo cute!!
So, the last few months I have been researching and visiting kitties and decided to get a Ragdoll kitten. Apparently they are a big breed, and are laid back and are supposed to get along well with dogs, and they are long haired, but don't shed like a regular long hair because they don't have a thick undercoat. I searched the web for local Ragdoll breeders, and found one in Buffalo near my parents' house. I visited the babies when they were 2-3 weeks old, there were 2 litters there. Here are some pics . . .
I put a down payment to be 4th in line to pick from 8 kittens. All my years of owning cats, and I always wondered what they looked like when they were babies, and what their siblings looked like, and now I know!! Another funny thing, I was searching the internet for videos of Ragdoll cats (there are a lot of cat videos on Youtube, BTW, and much of my time has been consumed ogling them), I came across a video of one of the queens, Cotton . . .
I love this video, and what are the odds??
I get the cat July 8th. I CAN'T WAIT!! My only concern is the breeder is letting the kittens go at 6 weeks. When I asked her about this she said she has always done it that way and has never had any problems, and the kittens bond better with the owner when they are more dependent . .. I trust her in that she's been doing it for awhile, but I am still worried about the whole transition for the cat. I might wait a week or 2 just for the fact that Maddy could have him as a snack if I am not totally careful, which I will be, and Maddy would never do that . . . but you can never be too careful I am sure.
So, I am setting up my guest bedroom/office as the cat's room, as I did before. There is a baby gate so Maddy can't ransack the room, and so the kitty can get away from her if need be. I found this sweet litterbox enclosure in case I have guests that would be grossed out by a litterbox in the bedroom (my bathroom is too small, and Maddy would for sure eat the poop!!)
