Meet The Cats: Brodie

NAME: Brodie
DATE OF BIRTH: 15 August, 2009 (approx)
SEX: Male (neutered)
ANCESTRY: Domestic Shorthair (Mixed)



BACKGROUND

Brodie is one of a litter of three feral kittens adopted by me and Matt in October, 2009. He and his sister Coraline were trapped at about 7 weeks of age; Shadow (sibling #3 -- another brother) was trapped three weeks later.

APPEARANCE

Brodie is a long, lanky, yet solid and muscular (feels a lot heavier than he looks!) grey mackerel (striped) tabby cat. His coloration is a bit lighter and more subdued than sister Coraline's, and he has more in the way of pure-white background hair (where Cora has more of a buff-tan). His ears are on the large and pointed side, and he also has a somewhat long and pointed nose/profile (which makes me suspect he's got some Siamese or Oriental Shorthair bloodlines in there somewhere, especially given that his meow is VERY Siamese-sounding).

Nose and paw-pads are shaded pink and black. White "eye-liner" fur around his eyes. Extremely long, slender, whippy tail with a slight kink near the end. His eyes are a clear limeade green.

HOBBIES:

Batting toys under the rug, curling his paws under him, making sporadic but impressively Siamese-esque meowing sounds, bird-watching, playing with his siblings, trying (unsuccessfully but enthusiastically) to entice Nikki to play, batting toys under rugs, leaping about (he seems to store a ton of potential energy during his naps!). Shredding cardboard and paper wherever he finds it. Napping in the laundry basket.

LIKES:

Where his sister Coraline is Serious Business, Brodie tends to be quite silly, and is utterly shameless in his enthusiasms. And he is very enthusiastic about everything he enjoys, from napping to snacking to running around after toys and such. (Occasionally he will get so excited he will run into a wall or clip a corner whilst gallivanting about the house, but this never fazes him; he just rights himself and keeps going!)



DISLIKES:

Sudden movements. The Vet.

CATNIP?:

Another "yes, please!" Though not quite as enthusiastic as his sister Cora when it comes to the catnip, he is nonetheless generally very pleased to see (or rather, smell) the stuff. He also enjoys eating it.

FOOD:

Brodie loves eating and will eat practically anything he can find. I have to watch him in that regard because he has a penchant for chewing on string and other fibrous matter. He is very curious about "human food" and will steal your dinner if you leave it unguarded!

As far as "cat food" goes, he likes it all, wet or dry, though (again) I have to be careful because as a kitten we found out he was intolerant to corn (which shouldn't be in cat food anyway, IMO, but that's a whole post unto itself). It gives him the runs, to put it somewhat politely. So basically he isn't picky but his digestive system is. He seems to do best on foods like Orijen and Evo (which are grain-free) as far as the dry stuff goes.

UPDATE: As of August 2010 Brodie has been eating a mostly-raw diet, and this has so far been amazingly beneficial to his digestive system. He has also proven himself to be the most adventurous eater of all the cats here...he will try pretty much anything, and is so far the only one in the household who will actually consume mice. Though he prefers the heads to the back end (not that I blame him!).

TOYS/PLAY:

Brodie's taste in toys is similar to his taste in food...pretty indiscriminate! Like his siblings he is fond of "Da Bird" and other interactive toys, but he also has a greater-than-average tendency to, for instance, go after the string or the handle a toy is tied to rather than the toy itself on occasion. He is what one might call a "detail oriented cat" in this regard. He also tends to get very attached to certain particular toys...in particular, several of those little fuzzy toy mice that have had their tails ripped off. He will carry one of these around in his mouth, from room to room, for hours. And if he loses one of them under the sofa he won't be satisfied with a different mousie...he will wait for me retrieve his "favorite" and accept it delightedly once it has been liberated!

Temperament-wise, he's a bit more sedate than his siblings in general. But when he gets into playing, he really gets into it. He also seems to have an excellent memory / sense of "object permanence" (see the video below for this!), and has been known to "cache" toys for later, i.e., via sticking them in the food bowl for storage!



INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER CATS:

From the very beginning, Brodie has been the resident peacemaker/negotiator. His general attitude toward other feline-people can probably be summed up as "oh hai, want to play (or nap) with me?" He gets along splendidly with both Cora and Shadow, and can often be found snuggled up with one (or both) of them, engaged in a vigorous round of ear-licking. Back when Shadow first arrived (3 weeks after he and Cora), Brodie seemed delighted to have another playmate and I am sure that his instant acceptance of his "briefly estranged" brother helped Cora eventually warm up to Shadow as well.

Because of his easy-goingness with other cats, he was the first I trusted to physically meet Nikki when she moved in in January 2010, and (all things considered) that ended up going fairly well.

Overall Brodie is very sweet, generous, and gentle with other kitties but certainly has a mischevious streak as well and loves the Stealth Ambush. :P He also has a tendency to "push his luck" with Nikki, as if he's determined to bring her into the Inner Kitty Circle. E.g., if she is napping on the couch in front of him, Brodie will sloooooowly extend a paw out and lay it on Nikki's back, or very delicately start licking her tail. And he seems determined to keep trying even though he usually gets a hiss or a face-swat at some point!

INTERACTIONS WITH HUMANS:

With me and Matt (though moreso with me because I'm home more) Brodie is very affectionate, and recently has taken to curling up on the couch with us while we're watching "Buffy" (yes, again...I will never tire of that series!) and purring like a low-flying helicopter. He is also quite fond of jumping up on my desk while I'm sitting at the computer and sort of sauntering back and forth in front of the monitor, soliciting back-scratches (and going "NYEOW!" at me if I stop petting him too soon!).

One thing that seems very particular about his interactions is that, once he trusts a human, he seems very emphatic about treating you like you're another cat. Not that I think he actually THINKS humans are cats...I mean, we look and smell and sound so different from cats that it's unlikely they'd make such an egregious identification mistake! Rather, it's more like...(and I don't claim to know this for sure, it's just what it looks like to me) he is saying something like "oh how very CAT of you! Now let's touch noses!". And you get the sense that there's something almost...not "sacred", exactly, but it's got something to do with respect. And you feel (well, I feel, at least) very much like it's something that should never, ever be betrayed. If that makes any sense.



With human people he doesn't know well, though, he is still very shy and skittish. He usually hides if visitors come over, though if someone gets out an interactive toy, he will occasionally come out (on the heels of his brave sister Coraline!) to investigate.

Meet The Cats: Coraline

---

NAME: Coraline
DATE OF BIRTH: 15 August, 2009 (approx)
SEX: Female (spayed)
ANCESTRY: Domestic Shorthair (Mixed; mother was a black DSH, father unknown)

BACKGROUND:

Coraline is one of a litter of three feral kittens adopted by me and Matt in October, 2009. She and her brother Brodie were trapped at about 7 weeks of age; Shadow (sibling #3 -- another brother) was trapped three weeks later.



APPEARANCE:

Small, compact cat; (approx. 7 lbs as of 8 months of age) Blue (grey on cream-colored background) mackerel/part-spotted tabby. Back is very dark, almost looks solid grey, but breaks up into tabbying on either side of her body and toward her head, legs, and tail. Tail is subtly striped, very dark at the tip. Dramatic, high-contrast facial markings including black "eye-liner". Her eyes themselves are this amazing deep coppery orange color, and are often open wide and round (several people have commented "she looks like the cat from Shrek" upon seeing this!)

Background cream-color fur shades into peachy-tan on her face; overall she exhibits darker and sharper "tones" than her tabby brother, Brodie. Nose and paw pads are all pink shading to black. Long whiskers and eye-brows. Fur length would probably technically be considered "short", but she's fluffier than either of her siblings, especially about the cheeks and tail.




HOBBIES:

Bird-watching, squirrel-watching, bug-chasing (though I've never seen her kill one -- she seems to be more into catching them, releasing them, and watching them wiggle and run around some more), playing Wrestle & Ambush with her brothers, shelf-scaling, tearing around the house, intensely examining things, attempting to catch the goldfish (I keep the lid to the aquarium taped shut to curtail any diving expeditions!), emphatic snuggling.

LIKES:

Like her namesake (the Neil Gaiman character "Coraline" from the eponymous book and film), she is both very clever and very brave. She got her name after (as a teeny 7-week-old kitten) managing to escape from the kitten-pen, dart out the bedroom door, and scale the bookshelves in the guest room within 2 days of being adopted. (At 5 AM on a Sunday morning, no less!)

From the beginning her assertiveness and strategic planning ability were evident; you could just see her looking around the room and figuring out what was next to what, so she could determine how to get to Interesting High-Up Place. Even as a baby she was very "look before you leap".

Hence, she very much seems to enjoy high places (she and Nikki definitely share this predilection!), soft things (she is SERIOUS BUSINESS about her pillow-kneading sessions), little things that dart around, windows (the household orifice kind, not the Microsoft kind!), sunbeams, boxes.



DISLIKES:

- Having her nails clipped (she seems to have this near-precognitive sense of when the snipper thing is about to close, because she will just sit there RIGHT up until the point when I merely start to THINK about pressing the lever. At that point, she will jerk her paw away with lightning speed!).

- The Vet. (I know, what a shock.:P)

- The dreaded e-collar (a.k.a. Cone of Shame). The vet stuck one of these on Cora after she was spayed. I personally think this was a bit overcautious -- I've never before heard of a cat needing to wear one of these after a spay, particularly an early spay (Cora was only 4 months old when I got her fixed -- she was precocious and already in heat at that age!). But in any case, Cora absolutely would not tolerate the Cone. As soon as I opened the carrier following her surgery, she rocketed out and ricocheted around the room, crashing into walls, furniture, and quite possibly the ceiling until she was able to remove the infernal thing from around her neck. I honestly hope she never really NEEDS a cone because, gah, she'd probably need to be sedated or kept until a very small cage until she recovered from whatever prompted the cone. Which she would absolutely hate, and justifiably so, and which I would feel terrible about given it's hard enough navigating this whole "the cat doesn't like X/but X is for their own good" business. Cora is NOT the sort of cat to "get used to things". She means what she says, and her opinion of the cone was an unmitigated "oh HELL no!"

CATNIP?:

Yes, please! Coraline is a catnip fiend. If I fill an old sock with the stuff, she will drag it around the house, roll around with it, drool on it, and push it into her face once it's been sufficiently mashed to release the most potent of the plant's vapors. I am just glad it's harmless and non-toxic to cats because she really has quite a time with it!

FOOD:

As a tiny kitten she would eat pretty much anything she could get, but as she grows up I'm seeing her get pickier (her brothers are another story!). Her Absolute Favorite Thing Ever seems to be chicken or turkey wet cat food where you have actual chunks/shreds of meat with gravy or broth, though often she will JUST lick up all the liquid and leave the meat chunks to dehydrate in the bowl. She seems to be okay with most dry foods (is partial to Evo, though) and tolerates pretty much all of them well as far as digestion goes.

UPDATE: As of August 2010, Cora (along with her brothers) is eating a mostly-raw home-prepared diet. She's a little tentative about trying new things but so far has gotten to like chicken, turkey, quail, and beef. She's also getting quite adept at bone-crunching, which still amazes me seeing as she still looks so little!

TOYS/PLAY:

Coraline is a big fan of toys -- both commercially-sourced cat toys and random bits of stuff about the house that she makes her own toys out of. While she loves interactive play and will scale the microwave, refrigerator, or closet shelf to steal any dangly-type toys, she is also quite keen on "bat the thingy around the house" games. Favorite subjects for these activities include plastic zip ties, plastic spiders (I had some of these left over from Halloweens past and once Cora found them she quickly started sending them skittering across the floor!), and little fuzzy rattle-mice.

She also has this one really elaborate thing she does (which I can hopefully get on video at some point) involving sort of...batting the object around a table or chair leg in ways that seem to involve some sort of intricate paw-dancing. Difficult to describe, but she's very intent on it when she's doing it, and there just seems to be this tremendous amount of thought going on.

INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER CATS:

Cora seems like the sort of cat who, had she not been raised with siblings, would have become an "only cat" (as in, totally intolerant of other felines in her vicinity). She is intensely territorial, and had some friction with Shadow when he first arrived (they'd been separated for only three weeks, but when you're a tiny kitten, that's a long time!), and seems to have an ongoing passive-aggressive thing going on with Nikki.

But she and Brodie were adopted together, and I think that prompted them to bond -- they've still never had a day apart in their lives, and can often be found lying in an overlapping pile of paws and entangled tails. I have also seen Cora and Shadow napping together, and they occasionally groom each other, but that has been rather a long time in the making. And when it comes to Nikki...well, Nikki is still somewhat larger/stronger than Cora, and Cora isn't daft, so she generally runs away when she sees Nikki heading toward her. So I would say that overall, Cora likes and enjoys the company of certain other cats (i.e., her brothers) but isn't quick to accept new cats, and is always going to have pretty high standards about who she lets into her personal space!

UPDATE: As of late summer 2010, Cora seems to have reached a kind of truce with Nikki! I caught the two of them napping together -- not snuggled up, but touching nonetheless -- on the futon recently. Which just amazed me.

INTERACTIONS WITH HUMANS:

It's kind of funny...initially Cora was SUCH a little hissy wild beast, but she's calmed down a lot, and is now actually the bravest of the litter as far as interacting with (unfamiliar) humans. She definitely has a mind of her own, and interactions are (as they should be!) always on her terms, but when she's in a snuggly mood you are definitely going to know it! Sometimes she follows me around the house going "nnnnnn!" until I sit down (so she can power-knead my lap). She also solicits head-scratches from both me and Matt, and will usually sit on my sister Katie for a while when she visits too.

She still usually hides at first when someone she doesn't know comes into the house, but will generally be the first to come out and investigate. Overall I would say at this point she's more curious than wary of humans, but still has that initial (and highly appropriate/self-protective) reflex to check things out from a distance first.

(click the video below to see some of Cora's amazing leaping prowess!)

---

Introductory Post

I share my home with four cats, a gigantic goldfish, and one Significant Other (human).

This blog is about the cats.

I figured that, while some cat posts are fine for Existence is Wonderful, I really wanted somewhere I could write just about cats without getting that whole "I must balance my blogging topics!" sense.

Thus, "Felines are Wonderful". Because they are!



So, expect to see posts about what my cats are up to (individually or in terms of their interactions), what they are like (as best as I can describe, using text, photo, and video), various ethical stuff that has come up in my mind as a result of being around them, etc.

Additionally I have a special interest in feral cats (and feral colony management) considering three of the kitties-in-residence here were adopted from a local feral colony, as were two of my SO's parents' cats (the colony is sort of loosely centered around their neighborhood, which is a few neighborhoods over from mine). So I will also be posting about those cats on occasion, as well as about Trap-Neuter-Return in general and various other feral-related issues and items of potential interest.

And finally, I will also be using this space to write about various cat supplies (food, furniture, toys, etc.) I have had experiences with, whether I've made them myself, modified them, or simply purchased and utilized. All cats are different and I have had a lot of interesting adventures trying to find (for instance) food that everyone will eat and that nobody is allergic to, litter boxes that meet everyone's approval, and so on.

(That said, if I mention brand names (and I will, when it's relevant) know that I am not affiliated with any cat-supply company whatsoever and do not get paid for writing this blog at all, let alone for "endorsing" particular products. If I draw attention to something, it will only be because I and my cats have had personal experience with it and I want people reading this to have an idea of exactly what I am talking about.)