It’s been a while since we had a gratuitous kitten picture… 
I am not exactly sure when Molly and Dolly’s birthday is (they are littermates), but since I suspect Dolly was about 8 weeks old when I adopted her in mid-July last year that would make their birthday sometime in mid-May. So I guess they aren’t really kittens anymore… 
Just another gratuitous kitten picture…
As you can see, Dolly really loves Dawn’s Christmas Tree!
You may remember this post from quite a while back. Well, after two years and two additional cats, I still have not found an answer to the age-old question, “Just what is it about cats in sinks anyway?”
Yes, Molly and Dolly love to play in the bathroom sink and are especially “helpful” when the water is turned on.
As soon as they hear the creak of the hot water knob, Molly and Dolly race to the bathroom. They are especially interested in the sink when I am brushing my teeth or washing my face and Dolly has been known to stick her paw down the drain to try and prevent the water from disappearing. Molly loves to try and “catch” the water as it pours out of the faucet and usually ends up soaking wet.
Although they love the sink, the bathtub is very popular too. When they play tag, it is their favorite home-base and every morning I have to clear the tub of cat toys before I shower. Dolly doesn’t just sit on the edge of the tub while I am in there showering: Sometimes she will actually climb in and wait at the back of the bathtub until I am finished!
Usually I find Molly and Dolly’s bathroom antics quite charming: They make my morning and evening routines interesting to say the least and I can be found smiling most mornings and definitely giggling every evening.
However, I absolutely did not find it entertaining when they attempted to pull the stopper from the sink’s drain Monday evening while I was taking out my brand new contact lenses. These new lenses cost me a pretty penny and the last thing I need when putting them in or taking them out is to drop them down the drain as a result of “assistance” in feline form.
Therefore, cute as the may be, in order to thwart their water play and the potential loss of my new contacts, I am afraid I will have to start banning Molly and Dolly from the bathroom… for a few minutes each day at least.
Dolly was introduced to Mouse, Scooter, and Harley almost two weeks ago now. At first there was much hissing, but that has calmed significantly over the past few days.
However, I can tell that the battle lines have been drawn: Scooter and Harley don’t seem to care for Dolly much. Mouse, on the other hand, has accepted her so easily that I actually caught them sleeping within inches of each other this afternoon! 
For those of you that know anything about my cats you will know this is a completely unforeseen turn of events. Though there are seldom out and out fights between them, Mouse openly dislikes Scooter and barely tolerates Harley. I still think that Mouse views Dolly as little more than common riffraff, but now she has an ally in the quest for feline dominance and it has been interesting to watch the dynamics developing amongst all four of them.
That, however, is not the only development at our home for wayward cats.
Step-dad caught Dolly’s sister Friday and brought her home too. I am not sure if he decided Dolly needed a playmate or if seeing that Dolly adopted me was looking for a kitten for himself, but one way or another, she was added to our brood and as a result, we now have Dolly and Molly.
Dolly will go with Mouse, Scooter, Harley, and me when and where ever I get a job, but I adamantly proclaimed that Molly will stay at home with Mom and Step-dad. I didn’t really need four cats… I definitely don’t need five!
Filed under: cat blogging | Tags: dolly, harley, kittens, molly, mouse, scooter A wise man once said, “You don’t choose a cat, a cat chooses you…”
I wasn’t looking for a cat considering the health scare I just had with Harley, (the FIP test was inconclusive, but that is not unusual in a vaccinated cat) but after six years, it appears that I have been chosen again.
She is an eight-week old calico that belonged to a litter out where my step-dad works and was in need of medical attention. I was not too involved to start with. Not only does step-dad have a soft spot for animals, he tends to exaggerate the state of outside cats’ conditions. Therefore when he told me about the kitten that had a sore on her neck, I figured she had just been playing too roughly with her siblings.
But on Friday morning he told me that the kitten had taken a turn for the worse and he had taken her to the vet’s office. Apparently she had gotten some sort of parasite and it had led to an infection. The vet removed the parasite, lanced the infected area on her neck to let it drain, and sent step-dad home with the kitten and some antibiotics.
I took one look into the carrier and knew at that moment that I had been chosen. The kitten attempted a half-hearted hiss as I lifted her out of the carrier, but it turned into a purr as soon as I held her close to me and presented her with water and kitten food.
Not twenty four hours had passed and I was already a surrogate mother to the little doll: I was feeding her, showing her the litter box, and giving her baths. I felt the sting of sharp milk teeth and the even sharper scratch of baby claws. I kept calling to her my little dolly and when I noticed she responded to it, it became her name.
Dolly has not yet met the rest of her new family and I doubt Mouse, Scooter, and Harley will be as enamored with her as I am when they finally do meet. However, I am sure they will get used to her… eventually!
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