Oreo has been with us for 3 1/2 weeks, she is a breath of fresh air. When Timmy passed away in July aged 20 I wasn’t sure about getting another cat, he wasn’t replaceable and we had commitments which meant we couldn’t give time to a new cat over the summer. But even before Timmy had gone I was drawn to rehoming sites and there are so many cats needing homes just in Leeds! We were also regular visitors to Kitty Cafe and love all the cats there. But having your own cat is a big commitment and we didn’t want to oblige our neighbour to look after another cat when we are away, as she has done with Timmy for many years. Just before we lost Timmy we found a lovely cat sitting lady, so this made thoughts of leaving a cat a bit easier.
When a friend messaged me to say a friends of hers had got some kittens I was very tempted, but Rob and Emily weren’t sure about a kitten so we kept looking at rehoming, but couldn’t go and see any until September. We kept thinking about the kittens and decided to go and visit them.
You can’t visit a kitten and come away without one!! We fell in love with the runt of the litter, so cute and quite a character even at only a few weeks old. She was tiny and appeared to be grey on her back with the rest of her black and she had blue eyes. It was thought at this stage she was a boy. We had to wait a few weeks until she was old enough to leave her Mum and we set about getting ready to welcome her. A trip to see Street Cat Bob at a Catit pop up event in Leeds resulted in purchasing some brilliant cat toys and equipment, it looked more like we were welcoming a new baby to the house. For me my cats are my babies too and my human baby is growing up so fast. Timmy was my first baby and was there when I couldn’t have my own baby. Oreo is my later life baby when I have to accept I can’t have more babies.
Oreo came to live with us as soon as she could leave her Mum. She was still tiny and we still didn’t know if she was boy or girl. She settled in straight away and was sitting on us and playing, not running and hiding. We had got a playpen to fasten her in at night and if we are out and she is fine with that and still goes in it at night. Emily puts her to bed before she goes up, it means Emily has gone off to bed better too!! She gets her up when she gets up meaning Emily is often first up, that has never happened before.
At first Emily was excited and scared in equal measure and ran off screaming if the little kitten went anywhere near her and thought she was going to get scratched or bitten. Of course this then meant that the cat went flying round the room thinking it was a game!! Emily has calmed down a bit and is getting used to her. She wants the cat to sit with her all the time, but the cat has other ideas and Emily gets upset. The cat likes sitting with me, probably because she is with me all day and I am quiet and still. Emily takes this personally and tries everything she can to bribe the cat.
It has been an eventful few weeks, but as we have had no car since Oreo arrived, we have had plenty of time to spend with her and have hardly left her on her own. In the first week she discovered that she could get in a gap under the oven and behind the plinths in the kitchen and then push it off to get out. The plinths have annoyed me for years as they fall off easily, so we got them secured. Great cat proof, but not flood proof! Yesterday the washer flooded the kitchen so we have to remove all the newly secured plinths to mop up the water and dry out the floor!! Oreo thinks this is great, she brought her toys into the kitchen to skate around whilst I tried to mop up the water and now the plinths are off again she thinks it is great fun. Can a kitten sabotage a washing machine?!
She loves all her toys and we get well entertained. Her favourite is a foil ball that she plays fetch with, followed by taking tissues out of the box and running of with them. Last week she discovered the answer machine the other day, she pressed the button and it said “you have no new messages, which made her jump and fall off the window ledge! I need a video camera set up, I could have made a fortune on You’ve Been Framed by now!
I have got her into a routine that she comes upstairs with me when I got to rest. That is when my PA comes in so I can’t leave Oreo on her own as she would get outside. She snuggles up with me on the bed and often washes me! I have been covered in worse things than cat slobber! She is very gentle getting hold of my hands with her paws. Her tongue is very rough so I get a free exfoliation too! Apparently it is a sign of affection and a special bond if your cat washes you, we must be well bonded by now. Emily doesn’t get licked much, partly because she screams if cat tries, I told her I think Oreo only licks clean people!!
When I sit down she comes and sits on my knee purring like a tractor. This means that I can’t wander off and do something else, but also means that whatever I am trying to do has to be done with cat help! Using my laptop takes a long time as she puts her paws on the mousepad and triggers all sorts of shortcuts! Or she walks across the keys typing random messages. I also am having to learn to type with one hand as she will sit on the other hand. I am not a fast typer anyway, but I do use two hands! When I tired sewing she ran off with the fabrics I was trying to pin, then sat on my foot when I tried to use sewing machine. She runs off with bits of paper too, so the craft room is out of bounds! I did manage to get a bit of card stitching done when she was asleep on my knee. I daren’t even try knitting!
We already have lots of pictures of her, but not many good ones as she is either tearing around so is blurred or curled up asleep and you cant see which end is which!
Here are a few of the better ones
