Sometimes your head and your heart don’t communicate…
So, in my efforts to Simplify All The Things, I may have had a misstep.
Just a small one, really.
Or, should I say, just a really small one.
And her name is Ripley:
Yeah. So, we adopted a kitten.
She’s teeny: 1 pound 8 ounces at her first vet appointment last Friday. This Saturday, tomorrow, she’ll be 9 weeks old.
Here’s what we know about Ripley so far: She’s the cutest little kitty ever. The toes on her right feet alternate black and white. Violet loves watching her antics, and she has a LOT of antics.
She’s also a bit of a scaredy cat. Every new thing, she gives a little hiss, then hides. She hissed when I sneezed even! Which means it’s taking her a bit longer to integrate with Cooper because, well, she’s pretty scared of him. He LOVES HER to pieces already and just wants to skitter–his favorite sport–but she’s not ready.
Of course, as y’all know, the great equalizer worked wonders for their relationship already:
Squeeze cheese for the win!
As for Newt, the two haven’t met yet. We took her to the vet as soon as she came home, and her doctor said to keep her separate from Newt for at least a week. For one thing, she definitely has roundworms, and for another, the vet said sometimes kitties have contagious respiratory illnesses that we need to give some time just to be sure. So far, she seems A-OK. In the meantime, I’ve been reading up on introducing cats (it’s WAY more complicated than introducing dogs) and chatting with cat experts to get tips on integrating the two of them.
Honestly, I think Ripley will do better with Newt than she’s doing with Coop.
We have started feeding them in sight of each other, and neither one has reacted negatively. In the pic below, Ripley is on the other side of the gate with John eating her dinner, while I sit with Newt as she eats hers. There’s a big print the same size as the gate that we have ready to slide in front of the gate in case of a negative reaction, but we haven’t needed it so far!
The only thing is that Newt knows Ripley is in the upstairs bathroom, of course, and we’ve been letting Ripley into our offices at various points, so Newt has basically stopped coming upstairs unless it’s a feeding exercise like the one above. I know cats are territorial, so I’m not sure if Newt’s saying… OK, kitten, you stay up there and I’ll be down here… or if she’s just nervous. I’m not really sure, so it remains to be seen.
Lastly, the kitten came home last weekend, went to the vet, we got our quarantine orders, and meanwhile–literally the day before–Violet came down with a stomach virus. Not only that, but she’s cutting at least one and maybe two teeth. She was a miserable mess.
Then we threw in the kitten with her quarantine and four-times-a-day feeding routine.
Along with keeping Coop and Newt happy.
And then Monday morning I left for a business trip to Purina’s HQ in St. Louis, leaving John with the whole big mess. 🙂 He did fine, though he’s a bit ragged today!
I’ll share more about the Purina trip later, but for now, they did give us a great big dog bowl that seems to be the perfect size for a tiny little kitten.
Welcome to the family, Ripley!
P.S. Can anyone guess the derivation of Ripley’s name?? The only hint: John named her! Leave a comment with your guess!
Oh Em Effin’ Gee! Ripley is completely adorable! I remember when I used to be able to place Newt in my shirt pocket. I totally want to do the same with Rip! Congrats crew!
She would love that! 🙂
She’s adorable, is she tortoise shell or maybe a bit calico? I’m only guessing, I’m not familiar with many cat breeds but those two are a few that stand out and that I actually know the names of. She’s adorable whatever she is. Is John an aliens fan? Or is her name ‘Ridley’s because believe it or not we got another cat. Only guessed that because a friend said she’d never have a dog, too big of a commitment, blah, blah, blah so when they did get a dog, (finally) they named him Moses, cause he was a miracle dog, 10+ years of nagging by her kids hehehe
I am so happy for your family, a new addition is always so wonderful.
Congrats!
Tortoise shell! You’re right! And John is totally an Aliens fan… a big sci-fi fan in general, but he named Newt after the little girl (she mostly comes out at night… mostly…), so this just seemed to fit. Now, he says, we need a Bishop and a Hicks. HA!
Cuteness overload! Makes my pre-existing kitten yearnings even worse! Congratulations!
I understand those yearnings! If you find yourself in Indiana, you’re welcome to snuggle her all you’d like… though I bet it’ll make those yearnings EVEN worse. She’s a little purr machine!
Congratulations! She’s adorable. Ripley from the Patricia Highsmith novels?
What a good guess!!! I actually had forgotten about those novels, to be honest. John is a huge sci-fi fan, so he named her Ripley after Sigourney Weaver’s character in Aliens, though the thriller connection is spot on!
She’s not scared of squeeze cheese, there’s a plus!
Thank goodness! Squeeze cheese is our solution to just about everything with these monsters… 😉
Oh my goodness, I can’t even imagine the chaos but I see how she was too difficult to resist!! I have no guesses as to her name but can’t wait to hear.
Chaos seems to be my sweetspot… ha! (I have a feeling you’ll be joining me in loving the mess pretty soon, too!!!)
As I was reading this, I thought to myself, “But technically Ripley comes before Newt.” So I’m going to assume I guessed correctly and that the Aliens are now outnumbering the OHMYDogs!
HAHAH! You are correct. 🙂
Aw, she’s adorable!! Congrats! I love her coloring!
Thank you so much! I do, too… such unique markings on this little one!
Every doggie household needs a cat. We are not sure why…
Awww!! Adorable! I hope the mess settles down soon and everyone is happy and healthy. BUT YAY KITTY!!! <3
Congratulations on your new addition – Ripley is adorable!! Good job on that simplifying thing too – LOL!
Cuteness overload!
Oh my goodness she is positively to die for!!! Speaking as a tortie fanatic, your family is going to have SO much fun with her 🙂
Congrats on your adorable new addition! I just love the name theme. My dad is a huge fan of the Alien movies, too, and so when my mom and I brought home our GSD puppy one summer, we told him her name was Ripley to appease him a little. It worked! She was an amazing dog. I bet this little kitten lives up to her awesome name, too.
WOW! Congratulations!
I am a one-cat household. My prior cat, Mr. Potter, was quite tolerant of babies. A baby human once grabbed a giant fist-full of his hair, and he just turned to look at the baby (like, “what are you doing?”). Fortunately the mama was right there and unclenched the baby fist with a “gentle, gentle” and a nice pet to Mr. Potter. The baby human did this a few more times, and Mr. Potter never flinched, and never ran away. (He did sneak up on the sleeping baby to check her out while she was less apt to grab him, only to sneeze and wake the baby up at 3 am!)
The neighbor’s kitten used to run into my door whenever I opened it, and I think Mr. Potter understood the kitten was a baby cat. Baby cat would jump all around like “let’splaylet’splaylet’splay!” and then jump on Mr. Potter. Instead of hissing or swatting, Mr. Potter would sumo roll the kitten to the ground, put a paw on his chest, and then lick him right between the eyes. They always had a few rounds of this before baby cat went off to taste Mr. Potter’s lunch and play with a toy or two. It’s not quite the same as bringing home a new cat, but I think older cats do understand a kitten is a kitten. Can’t wait to see how they get along!