Around the time that our rabbit had her litter of babies, our friend Stephanie learned that her cat was pregnant. We made promises to have each other over to ooh and ahh over our respective babies, and talked about how neat it was for our kids to get to experience teeny tiny newborn animals. Our bunnies grew up and left for their new home, and shortly after that Stephanie's cat had the kittens. I hadn't really thought about the idea of opening up our home to one of them until she posted some pictures of them a few weeks later on facebook. Oh dear. The kittens were so adorably cute that I had to show the pictures to Matthew and the kids. We started talking about how sweet they were, and then the idea of adopting one was brought up. The kids were all for it, but Matthew and I were a little more hesitant. We totally lucked out with Harlow - she is the best cat we could have ever hoped for. Before her, we had two cats that we had to re-home due to behavior problems, and we didn't want to go through that again. But the more we talked about it, and the more Stephanie told us about the kittens personalities, the more excited we got about possibly taking one. We went over to her house about a month ago to play with all the kittens, and they were so much fun. They had been handled a lot by her 3 daughters, so they were all really outgoing and friendly. Out of the six, there were a couple that we really liked - a little striped grey tabby, a darker striped tabby and an all black one that was super sweet. Our neighbor had already asked us if we could get the black on for her, so after talking it over as a family we decided to get the little grey kitten. She had been given the name "Hamburger" by Stephanie's kids, and she was cute, spunky and affectionate.
I will share this picture that Stephanie took first, because my pictures are nowhere near as good! I think Hamburger is about 6 weeks old in this picture:
(Photo credit to Stephanie Klein Photography - click the link to see her beautiful work!)
When we got Hamburger home and out of the carrier, we were all expecting Harlow to come out and be thrilled with her new itty bitty sister. Or if not thrilled, at least curious and tolerant. Suffice it to say, Harlow was none of the above and she was quite certain that she hadn't asked for a sister and that we could return her to where she came from right.that.minute:
Oh dear. How could we give up something this cute?
And this tiny (can you even find her on our couch?):
And so adorably perfect?
So upon the advice of our neighbor Dayna, for the next few days we kept the kitten in Killian's room with a litter box and food, and let Harlow have the run of the house. It seemed to help Harlow adjust to the idea, and we would let the kitten out when Harlow was sleeping (which is usually all afternoon) and at night for some supervised play time. At first Harlow would either run away, or sit a safe distance away and hiss and growl at the little intruder, but the last few days there has been less and less hissing and theatrics and more nose sniffing and chasing through the house. I think they might actually be having fun together! There are times when Harlow is still grouchy about the idea of a kitten, especially when food or toys are involved. And sometimes just out of nowhere she will reach over and give the kitten a good slap, just to remind her of who's house this really is. But its only been a week, so I think that in time they will be the best of friends!
Now...any ideas on names for this little one? We are having a heck of a time thinking of a new one, but we all agree that the kitten should be called something a little more refined than "Hamburger". Any and all ideas are welcome!
I will share this picture that Stephanie took first, because my pictures are nowhere near as good! I think Hamburger is about 6 weeks old in this picture:
(Photo credit to Stephanie Klein Photography - click the link to see her beautiful work!)
When we got Hamburger home and out of the carrier, we were all expecting Harlow to come out and be thrilled with her new itty bitty sister. Or if not thrilled, at least curious and tolerant. Suffice it to say, Harlow was none of the above and she was quite certain that she hadn't asked for a sister and that we could return her to where she came from right.that.minute:
Oh dear. How could we give up something this cute?
And this tiny (can you even find her on our couch?):
And so adorably perfect?
So upon the advice of our neighbor Dayna, for the next few days we kept the kitten in Killian's room with a litter box and food, and let Harlow have the run of the house. It seemed to help Harlow adjust to the idea, and we would let the kitten out when Harlow was sleeping (which is usually all afternoon) and at night for some supervised play time. At first Harlow would either run away, or sit a safe distance away and hiss and growl at the little intruder, but the last few days there has been less and less hissing and theatrics and more nose sniffing and chasing through the house. I think they might actually be having fun together! There are times when Harlow is still grouchy about the idea of a kitten, especially when food or toys are involved. And sometimes just out of nowhere she will reach over and give the kitten a good slap, just to remind her of who's house this really is. But its only been a week, so I think that in time they will be the best of friends!
Now...any ideas on names for this little one? We are having a heck of a time thinking of a new one, but we all agree that the kitten should be called something a little more refined than "Hamburger". Any and all ideas are welcome!