A Tail of Two Kitties

When Kelsey joined our family, I was a little concerned about her reaction to our two cats and vice versa.

Cheyenne (the tabby) is now 10...we adopted her from PAWS in Montclair at 6 months old and has been a dream cat ever since. She has always been Daddy's Little Girl...would she share her title with the new sheriff in town?

Montana (Tana- our white cat) was found wandering in a construction site at 6 weeks old. She is now seven and in good health right now. She has bi-colored eyes, and due to the recessive genes, is completely deaf. Unfortunately, she also has FIV, which is similar to HIV in humans, but only spread through saliva and in-utero. FIV is not transferable to humans. Tana started her life with us in Kelsey's room and wasn't thrilled to see the changes. She doesn't give her love easily, but once she does, she is very affectionate and loves to snuggle and be hugged and petted. Tana is very vocal and her purr is very loud! Starting out life as a feral cat, she will occasionally bite if provoked.

Also, would Kelsey be afraid of the cats? They come and go as they please and I didn't want them to frighten her.

Luckily for us, Kelsey adored the cats as soon as she laid eyes on them, which was about 2 hours after coming home from China. Cheyenne is an angel...she allows the petting, the hugging, the tugging of the tail :) I NEVER have to worry about Cheyenne.

As for Tana, we knew she'd be the challenge...and we are training Kelsey to give her a wider berth...Tana won't stand for being cornered and she can't hear Kelsey coming...but the two of them get along fairly well...although there has been a chomp or two (Tana realizes that she has to be more tolerant of Kelsey and she lets her pet her (with either Kurt or myself there) and she will headbutt her and let her share space. The only 2 times she's nipped Kelsey, were completely justified in my mind, so Tana wasn't in trouble...Kelsey was pestering her...and no damage other than a few tears and a small mark that faded quickly on the arm (Tana could really bite hard if necessary - I have personal experience with it!). We won't let Kelsey interact with Tana without one of us being there and Kelsey seems to understand that she shouldn't bother her...a healthy respect for one of God's Creatures is an important lesson to learn.

Kelsey really adores being the big sister of two kitties!

On a side note, I have joined NoBloPoMo, so you can look forward to daily postings by yours truly in Nov. I am already cheating and holding back 2 experiences that we've had this weekend to make the start of this new project fun for me.

Any questions or topics you'd like me to comment on?