Author Topic: The Zev thread (was "Anybody want a kitten?")  (Read 110435 times)

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Anybody want a kitten?
« Reply #200 on: 11 August, 2011, 01:40:54 pm »
Thing with young kittens is they haven't really learned about the off switch yet.  If there's an audience (human, feline or canine), they'll be perky and playful or groomy or just plain *pestery* even when they don't really have the energy left.  This can easily annoy an adult cat, even if they're absolutely fine with each other territorially.  Put them in a room by themselves and they'll happily curl up and sleep, though, so keeping them apart at least some of the day will probably be a good idea until she's a bit older.

Re: Anybody want a kitten?
« Reply #201 on: 11 August, 2011, 01:49:07 pm »
You need to apply the mother cat off-switch - a gentle swat to the head, pinning kitten to the floor. Hold down until resistance has ceased. Then lick clean (this last bit is optional).
<i>Marmite slave</i>

Re: Anybody want a kitten?
« Reply #202 on: 11 August, 2011, 01:50:03 pm »
Once a few weeks are up, and I can let Kai out (through the cat flap), I won't be able to let Zev wander about anyway, since she would also be able to leave using the cat flap.

So, Kai will be able to wander about, in and out, at liberty whenever he wants to, and Zev will have to stay locked up in the spare room.  If he can communicate this, she's is going to be annoyed. ;D

When I'm at home, I'll block the cat flap up, and let them both wander around.  Kai will have to ask to be let out and in then, which I'm sure he'll work out!
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

woollypigs

  • Mr Peli
    • woollypigs
Re: Anybody want a kitten?
« Reply #203 on: 11 August, 2011, 02:00:15 pm »
TimO you are a scientist can't you strap something on their backs. So that when they get too close to each other the bounce away, a bit like magnets?
Current mood: AARRRGGGGHHHHH !!! #bollockstobrexit

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Anybody want a kitten?
« Reply #204 on: 11 August, 2011, 02:05:33 pm »
You need to apply the mother cat off-switch - a gentle swat to the head, pinning kitten to the floor. Hold down until resistance has ceased. Then lick clean (this last bit is optional).

I've been using a variation on this technique to good effect to persuade her to allow me to administer eye ointment:  Rubbing her ears with a moist thumb is remarkably effective at persuading her that it's grooming with mummy time, at which point she becomes much happier about touching her face (allowing me to pick the dried gunk out of her eyes and so on).  Get the timing right and you can have the ointment in her eyes before she's worked out what's going on.

She'll then happily sit and wash herself all over (though she can do her face, she hasn't quite worked out how to do behind her ears yet), and maybe doze off.  Maybe.


Incidentally, having stopped the ointment (and antibiotics) two days ago, her eyes are now gunk-free, and while she still sneezes occasionally, this says more about her ability to find dusty corners than the state of her upper respiratory tract.   :thumbsup:

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Anybody want a kitten?
« Reply #205 on: 11 August, 2011, 02:06:00 pm »
TimO you are a scientist can't you strap something on their backs. So that when they get too close to each other the bounce away, a bit like magnets?

I believe buttered toast is traditional...

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Anybody want a kitten?
« Reply #206 on: 11 August, 2011, 11:41:17 pm »
Just seen TimO off with a small black cat on a black fleece in a cat carrier in the dark.  We did our best to tire her out, and she was curled up and quiet, so hopefully the journey won't be too traumatic.

Awkwardly she was still in perky playful mode when Tim arrived, so she wasn't really in the best of states for meeting new people, but she was soon happy enough to play chase-the-shoelace with him and eventually let him stroke her a bit without too much objection.  She was mostly interested in the exciting new smell of his shoes, and the exciting new laces to attack.

I reckon they're going to get on fine.   :thumbsup:


We're both sad to see her go, but glad she's going to a good home with someone we know.

Re: Anybody want a kitten?
« Reply #207 on: 12 August, 2011, 02:57:36 am »
I've just arrived in Croydon, and she's been unloaded, and moved into the spare bedroom.

She's right at the back of the cat carrier, and staring at me with wide eyes.  I don't want to grab her, aside from the trauma to my hands, it wouldn't be very friendly, so I'm hoping that she'll wander out, but somehow I suspect she'll out wait me, and I'll have to go to bed.

She's actually having a wash at the moment, so not too traumatised, and I've got food, milk and water out, in an attempt to encourage her with an attractive smell.

No photos at the moment, and I've forgotten where I put the camera as I came in, so I don't want to wander off and leave her whilst I search for it.
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

barakta

  • Bastard lovechild of Yomiko Readman and Johnny 5
Re: Anybody want a kitten?
« Reply #208 on: 12 August, 2011, 08:34:20 am »
Heh yeah she'll probably wander out on her own.  Good luck and hope you've managed to get some sleep TimO.  Thanks for letting us know you're both okay.

Re: Anybody want a kitten?
« Reply #209 on: 12 August, 2011, 08:55:09 am »
I've just come back into the bedroom to find her eating. Yay!

She's obviously still a bit nervous, because she took a couple more mouthfulls, before retreating back into the carrier (with a brief leg stretch midway), but that's definitely good.

I should also thank Kim and barakta for looking after me last light, and for doing such a good job looking after her.  I was fed, and chatted too, which I needed after three hours of driving to Birmingham.  I was even worse by the time I got back to Croydon, but at least the relatively light traffic around London (literally, on the M25) late at night, made the journey relatively easy and moderately fast.  I saw a slight police presence in Birmingham, but nothing too significant.

She's was washing herself quite thoroughly, and had moved to middle of the basket, rather than right to the back, she's also come out for a brief wander around, and is currently scoffing food, which I don't want to disturb.  When she's done I'll try a bit more cat fishing, using an old shoelace!

Here are a couple of photos taken with the zoom lens, from right across the room.  I had to use the flash, because whatever I do otherwise, she's a very dark blurry blob.  I need to dig out a tripod.


Actually, it is rocket science.
 

barakta

  • Bastard lovechild of Yomiko Readman and Johnny 5
Re: Anybody want a kitten?
« Reply #210 on: 12 August, 2011, 09:51:16 am »
Aww.  She looks mostly wary and confused rather than anything worse so I'm sure she'll perk up soon, especially with food and patience.  Good luck!

Kim packed the shoelace she had at ours with a handful of other things in the bag we gave you but yeah I suspect any old shoelace would be good. 

Re: Anybody want a kitten?
« Reply #211 on: 12 August, 2011, 10:20:26 am »
She's got quite confident after I sat in her room for a couple of hours.  I did get out the shoelace of doom, and she has been happily chasing it around the room.  It doesn't really matter how scared or apprehensive she gets, the shoelace will bring her back out!

She's also found, and used, the litter tray, which is good. :thumbsup:

I even managed to pick he up, and handle her, with minimal problems.  I do need to have a bath, and swap my dressing gown for a slightly more kitten claw proof pair of jeans, before I let her investigate running over me too much more.

What's down here then ... ?



My neck can be thiiiiis big.



Umm, milk.



Die, pig dog shoe lace, die.

Actually, it is rocket science.
 

Eccentrica Gallumbits

  • Rock 'n' roll and brew, rock 'n' roll and brew...
Re: Anybody want a kitten?
« Reply #212 on: 12 August, 2011, 10:22:47 am »
Is it wrong that I find myself wishing she'll always stay that teeny?
My feminist marxist dialectic brings all the boys to the yard.


barakta

  • Bastard lovechild of Yomiko Readman and Johnny 5
Re: Anybody want a kitten?
« Reply #213 on: 12 August, 2011, 12:35:16 pm »
Aww!  Thank you for the update + pics, I knew asking you to submit to catslavery once more was the right thing to do.

She's looking good.  I absolutely agree about the shoelace, it's how I have bonded with her cos I'm not as 1337-a-cat-whisperer as Kim is. 

It's very weird not having Zev in our bathroom anymore, feels quite empty but hasn't been as sad as I expected as we know where she is and how safe and happy she'll be.

Re: Anybody want a kitten?
« Reply #214 on: 13 August, 2011, 08:08:43 am »
Some video footage.  Not terribly exciting, but trying to film a kitten whilst playing with her only works sometimes!

(The video seem to stop around three quarters of the way through.  It may be this machine, which can only just about plays YouTube video.  Are they working fully for others?)

Playing with a squeaky dangly mouse toy.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/I74WCOobLvM&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/I74WCOobLvM&rel=1</a>

Attacking the Shoelace of Doom.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/bmI2-VEG4lk&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/bmI2-VEG4lk&rel=1</a>
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

nicknack

  • Hornblower
Re: Anybody want a kitten?
« Reply #215 on: 13 August, 2011, 08:16:14 am »
(The video seem to stop around three quarters of the way through.  It may be this machine, which can only just about plays YouTube video.  Are they working fully for others?)

Work fine here.  :thumbsup:
There's no vibrations, but wait.

Re: Anybody want a kitten?
« Reply #216 on: 13 August, 2011, 08:47:49 am »
(The video seem to stop around three quarters of the way through.  It may be this machine, which can only just about plays YouTube video.  Are they working fully for others?)
Work fine here.  :thumbsup:

Ah good, thanks.  Just the netbook then.  It's a bit underpowered, and it's a bit of a miracle when videos play at all (they still tend to stutter).


Overnight Zev had disappeared all of her catfood, and milk.  I must remember to put some dry food here as well, so she can fall back onto that if she gets starving enough.

Currently she is chomping her way through a portion of Hills wet kitten food at speed.  The boxes of kitten food suggest that at her age and weight, she should probably be eating 1½ to 2 pouches of food a day, at most.  She seems to be easily eating 2, and sometimes more, so I think she's still trying to make up lost time, even if not stuffing her face quite as rapidly as possible.

She is drinking the cat milk faster than Talisker used to.  Currently she's drinking more than a bottle a day.  The bottle that Kim and barakta gave me is gone, as has a second one from my stock.  So, that's two entire bottles in just over 24 hours!

To be fair, she's a kitten, and kittens drink milk, but they don't generally see off the amount of solid food that she's also doing justice to. ;D

She's not particularly fussy about the wet food.  She's had Sainsburys own brand, Applaws, and Hills, and hovered all of them up with nary a quibble.

She's gone back to being very nervous of me this morning, and wouldn't let me smooth her when I was fishing her in with the shoelace of doom.  She did let me pet her a bit whilst she's eating, but I think that's because food takes precedence of anything else, even being nervous!
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

Re: Anybody want a kitten?
« Reply #217 on: 13 August, 2011, 09:44:18 am »
.. I will say that you probably want to drive to Brum Sam, a kitten is not likely to stay that clean for the journey time from Birmingham to London, so you really wouldn't want to take it on a train. ...

By the way, I was entirely wrong about this.  She didn't make any mess, and indeed is still sleeping in the same basket, using the same old fleece as a bed.

I took two complete baskets up with me, with associated stuff to sleep on, and a towel (which in the end I draped over the basket to reduce light and noise, and hopefully encourage her to sleep).  I never heard a sound from her, and because she is a black cat, on a dark purple old dressing gown, in a dark car, I couldn't see what she was doing, but I'm guessing it wasn't too traumatising, since she's fine now.

Even though I took the Feliway up with me, I failed to remember to use it. :facepalm:
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

Gattopardo

  • Lord of the sith
  • Overseaing the building of the death star
Re: Anybody want a kitten?
« Reply #218 on: 13 August, 2011, 10:03:35 am »
So when is the web cam set up?  It will be like having a kitten trapped in my monitor.

Re: Anybody want a kitten?
« Reply #219 on: 13 August, 2011, 10:12:32 am »
So when is the web cam set up? ...

Probably not until Monday.  I'll direct the images thorough a work webserver, so that the ADSL line doesn't collapse from the requests. ;D

In principle it works, I just need to hack up some simple web pages, and create the ssh keys to allow scp to work automagically across the link, when I'm not around to type in passwords!
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

Re: Anybody want a kitten?
« Reply #220 on: 13 August, 2011, 11:28:06 am »
Here's some footage of her scoffing her breakfast, although on inspection, whilst she ate some of the meat, what she also did was lick off all of the gravy!  That's a normal cat approach, Talisker did it, my parents old cat Cindy used to do it, and I'm sure many other cats do it.  In fact my parents would sometimes give Cindy a saucer of gravy left over from the Sunday roast, although that was rare, because I absolutely love gravy, so would tend to hoover most of it up!

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/cgFO26s7AIc&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/cgFO26s7AIc&rel=1</a>
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

Re: Anybody want a kitten?
« Reply #221 on: 13 August, 2011, 04:16:31 pm »
So when is the web cam set up?  It will be like having a kitten trapped in my monitor.

Just don't let it see the mouse....
If I had a baby elephant, it could help me wash the car. If I had a car.

See my recycled crafts at www.wastenotwantit.co.uk

Re: Anybody want a kitten?
« Reply #222 on: 13 August, 2011, 09:49:31 pm »
If you listen carefully to the audio, you can just hear her purring as the start, before she decides that attacking my hand is more fun. ;D

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/RR_bedSrh4A&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/RR_bedSrh4A&rel=1</a>
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

border-rider

Re: Anybody want a kitten?
« Reply #223 on: 13 August, 2011, 09:55:20 pm »
Cute

But you may really regret inculcating a habit of fighting hands :)

Re: Anybody want a kitten?
« Reply #224 on: 13 August, 2011, 10:58:33 pm »
But you may really regret inculcating a habit of fighting hands :)

It's OK at the moment, she has the memory of a goldfish.  Standing over her tends to scare her (not surprising really!) so I tend to crawl around on all fours, or my knees, but at some point I sometimes need to stand up, at which point she'll scurry off into her box, or behind the chest of drawers.  By tempting her with the shoelace of doom, I can have her back in a few seconds, oblivious to what had scared her earlier.

I think that's the only time I've let her do that anyway.  At the moment her teeth and claws are not very sharp, so it's perfectly safe, and at least in part I was playing up to the camera. :)

She's getting less wary of me, but I don't think I've got to Kim's level of familiarity yet.  I can sometimes grab hold of her, and check out her paw, but in general she's not happy with that, and at best I can pet her slightly, so long as I'm careful to not raise my hand too suddenly.  Snoozing on my lap will have to wait.
Actually, it is rocket science.