A Post About Kittens

Stock photo. I don't know any of them.

 Because why not? Everybody loves kittens.  Even non-cat people (and I've heard there are some of you out there) like kittens. In the middle of the free-for-all that has become our national media, I figure everybody could use a kitten or two or three around now.  So forget about who's going to be President and let's just talk about kittens for a while here. 

In our case, kittens just show up, but maybe you'll get one from an animal shelter or a neighbor or a cat rescue outfit.  However you end up with a kitten, kittens are a gift.  Spend all the time with them that you can.  The unbearably cute and cuddly phase doesn't last long and you will want to play with them as much as you can--at least until they fall over asleep, which they sometimes will do.  Then you can catch a nap with them. 

Freddie in his natural habitat

A kitten story:  This is Freddie. He was a foster kitten, rescued from the back yard of somebody who plainly didn't want kittens and wasn't taking very good care of them, or of their mom. My neighbor basically stole him.  We were going to keep him until a kitten rescue outfit could find him a home - not always easy to do mid-kitten season, when there are thousands of kittens that need homes.  Spay and neuter your pets, folks.  Please.

Home office working conditions intolerable.

Freddie loved to be on a person.  At night he would get under the blanket with me (the other cats were jealous, so Freddie was confined to a room at night, and I got the honor).  During the day, he wanted to be sitting on Joan's chest except for when he was running around, playing and eating.  We couldn't keep him in his designated room.  He was small enough to fit under the door, and as soon as he figured this out, he was all over the house.  The other cats watched him zoom by sort of the way you'd watch a tennis match. 

Unfortunately we only had Freddie for a short time.  He got sick and died very suddenly, for reasons unknown. The vet couldn't even tell us.  That's one problem with kittens.  They look fierce but they are very fragile.  Something like 8% of kittens are stillborn and 9% die before eight weeks. (That's a study of purebreds, which of course are treated with kid gloves and get the best medical care available, so the actual death rate is probably much higher.)  Freddie was spoiled rotten for the last several days of his short life, though.  I think he was pretty happy.  

Another kitten story:  Joan's Mom really liked cats, but couldn't have one because she was allergic.  She knitted cat mats, thick little woven rugs, for cats in animal shelters.  One of the shelters she frequently knitted for had an open house, and we took her to meet some of the cats and see where her mats ended up.  During the tour, we went into the kitten room.  There were probably 20 kittens in there, and they had never seen a wheelchair before.  They thought this was the best new toy ever.  Mrs. Condell was suddenly besieged with 20 curious kittens climbing all over her, checking out the spokes of the wheels, attacking the straps that hung down the back, and just in general having a great time.  I think it took us about 20 minutes to get back out of the kitten room because we'd take off two kittens and four more would pile on.  One of those moments that I wish I had on video.  They didn't have video cell phones back in those Dark Age days, though.  

Anyway, this is something I learned recently.  Kittens, as it turns out, like to be cuddled for a very good reason.  When they are small (and believe me, they start out very small), they have trouble regulating their body temperature, ie, they get chilled easily.  This is why kittens ball together in a group when they sleep; sharing body heat keeps everybody warm.  You've probably noticed, if you've been around kittens, that they generally don't protest when you pick them up and hold them.  Of course not.  They're leaching off your body heat, the little vampires.  Kittens can also get very sick if they get chilled, so staying warm is a survival instinct. Did you think that little guy was just crazy about you and that's why he let you hold him?  Maybe.  Or maybe you're just warm-blooded.  Either way, feel honored.  

So what happens, you may wonder, as a kitten gets older and starts turning into a cat?  Well, once they're over about two pounds, the problem of keeping themselves warm becomes less of a problem.  They still probably like to be cuddled, but they'll get squirmy at this point and want to be put down so they can go chase a bug, or climb the curtains, or ruin your stockings, or do those other things that kittens do.   

Around 7-8 months, kittens morph into kittenagers.  This is when you start seeing "aloof behavior" in cats.  And you should expect to.  After all, they're teens.  They're figuring out that they're independent beings, they're testing the rules, they're wanting to get into fights with other cats to see how tough they are, and once in a while they will want to borrow the car.  (Don't lend it to them without checking with your insurance company.)  And like all teenagers everywhere, they will not want to be cuddled very often.  Their body heat is fine, thank you, and by the way you suck, and can you drive me and Heather to the mall?  

This, like everything else about growing up, is a phase.  Around 1 1/2 to 2 years, cats finish their growth, fill out a little bit and settle into adulthood.  Regardless of what relationship you've had with your cat up until now, you will probably start a new one around this time.  This is when you find out who your cat really is.  The "aloof behavior" may continue but it will probably at least fade; cats know who their people are by now, and they're probably pretty attached to you. They will show up and ask to be petted. They will get into a routine with you, expecting to be played with and fed and settle down for naps with you at specific times (and specific days - cats figure out weekends pretty quickly).  Grayson the Cat in particular couldn't stand to be picked up until about six months ago, when he started not to mind so much, and he's still not a lap cat, but after basically not speaking to me the first year we had him (we adopted him mid-kittenager) to wanting to lie down on me when I go to bed or settle in to the couch with a good book.  

Now here's the down side of cat development.  Guess when cats are most likely to be surrendered for adoption?  Between the ages of 7-8 months and 2 years.  (Most common reason:  "I had to move, and the new place won't accept pets.") Right when they've stopped being nice kittens and started acting like teenagers.  I find this tragic.  I think if more people knew about the growth and development of cats, fewer people would be moving into these new anti-pet apartments and more people would be willing to wait out kittenager-hood. 

Giving up a cat for adoption is terribly traumatic for a cat and it takes them a long time to bond with a new family.  (We've had Grayson for two years and he's just come around to deciding we're Mom.) Please don't do this.  If you have a problem with cat behavior, talk to your veterinarian; very often it's a simple thing that can be fixed.  If it's just aloofness, wait it out.  It will pass.  

So, if you are about to adopt a kitten or a young cat, please plan for some aloofness as the cat enters adolescence.  And if you know somebody who's about to adopt a cat, please tell them about kittenager-hood and aloofness.  Cats need permanent, forever homes.  In a perfect world, a person would pick up a kitten (or two or three) and have them until they died of old age. 

By the way, if you like kittens but don't have one for whatever reason, your local animal shelter could probably use some volunteers.  I'm just sayin'.