Dottie is shy.  She has not come to terms with the sheer number of cats around her.  So, she stays holed up in her condo.  However, if you sit down and start petting her, she starts rolling around purring up a storm.

She did not freak out and hiss when she got an occasional four-footed visitor, but she clearly preferred humans, and even solicited a belly rub at one point.  Dottie is pretty lovable.

We’re back!  It was nice to be with the PetSmart kitties again.  There were all new ones, I am figuring there were a few returns to the vet but also many adoptions.  I will see what news I can gather.

Having been away so long, I’m going to give you the most beautiful first.  This is Libby.

She is a young adult – maybe a year old – and she is one of the most affectionate cats we’ve had with us in awhile.  When I opened her cage, she came and put her two paws on  my shoulders so that I would hold her, and she was happy to be held and held and held, purring quietly.

Of course I could not hold her the entire time…  When I put her down, she found a white fur mouse and had a great time throwing it up into the air.  After quite awhile she posed a little for me.  Those tortie colors, that long silky fur, that cuddly personality…  she is really a winner and I hope she gets a home soon where she can warm someone’s lap all winter.

Due to the snow, we couldn’t get to Petsmart on Saturday.  We dropped in just for an hour on Sunday to see who was there and give some attention, and this is our last visit till New Year’s.  I will throw up all my pictures (sorry, not so great – I didn’t have a camera with me) and it’ll have to hold you for 2 weeks!

There were two sets of oddly assorted siblings, each about 4 months old.  This is one set: Two brown tabby girls, a dilute tortie, and a grey brother with white feet.

Then we had two black and white ones with a lovely floofy brown tabby brother.  The black and white ones were small and roly-poly, and the brown tabby looked like he was part maine coon and headed for Largeness.

Then we had three black kittens – one singleton, and a brother/sister pair.  The sibs were a little shy and after a short venture out they cuddled back up together in their condo.

And there was this little grey girl who just wanted to be loved nonstop.

I hate being away more than a week, I lose track of my feline friends.  I know Cole and Ritchie had to go back and see the vet, and a bunch of adoptions happened last week of cats that had come and gone so fast that we never met them.  I don’t know what happened to little Buckets.  It’ll be nice to get back into a routine where we are in there every weekend and can stay more in touch with the kitties.

Have a pleasant holiday, and spend extra time cuddling your pets this month!

In the pecking order of cats at our house, LilyBlue goes her own way.  She does not really participate in the hierarchy.  She’s her own cat.

That picture was taken when she was about 17 weeks old, and you can already see the wheels turning inside that little head.

She is the bravest one.  She will follow any repair person or other user of interesting machinery, wherever they go in the house, to observe their activities, and she is always the first to greet any visitor.  When she and Daphne arrived at our house, in a kitty bag, at the age of about 10 weeks, she was the one who BOUNDED out of the opened bag and straight up to the nearest adult cat.  At that age she was maybe a little runty, smaller than her sister.

That situation has rectified itself and she managed to nosh her way to a several-ounce weight advantage.

She has been hugged and toted and carried by countless children, and is clearly Emmy’s cat.  (Emmy named her.  I have no idea where the name came from.)

And yet, she is the proud owner of an orange CAUTION sticker on her vet chart because she is very unwilling to tolerate the attentions of vet techs.

Lily’s favorite things include toasting herself on warm things:

Playing with water:

Nursing on the side of your hand when she’s in the mood to be loved:

Cozying up to her big brother:

And also nibbling on paper, plastic bags, and Crocs.  She is one interesting cat.

We found her and Daphne at PetFinder.com.

For this week, anyway.  I am so surprised that we are still full of kittens in December.

This litter of little ones was about 10 weeks old.

There were these two:

and two that look like this:

They were too little to have out, so Emmy went in, as she usually does when there’s a big group of little ones, and bonded with this one.

I of course coveted the calico, who got sleepy and went and snuggled with her floofy brother.

These two little ones were with us on Saturday for the first time.  I think the brother wasn’t feeling too well, so I am not sure whether they will be there the next time we go.  They were SO tiny – probably 6 weeks old, just barely old enough to be neutered.

The little girl was a dilute tortie, which is always a favorite of mine.  She was the more lively of the two.

The brother was a floofy brown and white tabby who was sort of quiet and winsome.  At first they were not sure how they felt about this big human reaching into their cage, but they quickly decided they liked to be petted.

The little girl kept standing on her tippy-toes trying to get onto the top of the little kitty shelf, but she could barely get her paws up there.  I put her up, and she was so surprised by this new perspective on life that she kept dancing around.  Being up above her brother as he went in and out underneath her seemed to thrill her.  He, on the other hand, wanted to be petted and then to get some sleep.

I have no idea why this young fellow was gifted with the name Buckets, but that’s what it said on his cage tag.  He is probably four months old, so not a baby but definitely a youngster.  He was VERY plush and soft and made happy purrs when we took him out of his cage.

Once he got a little attention, he wanted to be down and busy.  About one second after this photo was taken, he was off – you can see his head beginning to turn to check out the action.

Besides Cole, we had two other black youngsters, Midnight and Lydia.  They were both older than Cole but still only about the same age as Buckets.  Besides being shiny and black and hard to photograph, they were also in constant motion rumbling and playing.  The four of them ran wild the entire time we were there.  Buckets was willing to cease and get a hug and go home to his condo and eat when the time came, but Cole had to be chased down, and both Midnight and Lydia’s little feet were still running in mid-air as I picked them up and put them back.  They didn’t seem all that tired out after an afternoon of this.

Many new friends this week.  Cole was still there, looking half a size bigger and being VERY rambunctious.  Ashley got adopted.  Tiana and Jordan and Damien and Ritchie (sob) went to see the doctor.  I miss those little black cats.

But as usual there was no lack of beautiful kitties to fill the spaces.  These three siblings were perhaps 4 months old.  They did not get down and mix it up with their fellow inmates, they preferred to watch from a safe spot.

This is Ashton.  He wanted to be up on the counter getting loved.

This is Kaitlyn.  She wanted to be on a box, near the action but separate from it.  Occasionally she would jump down and bat some toy, and then return to the box.

This is Dolly.  She wanted to be in a cage, down on the same level with the action, but not in it.  She just watched.

Damien says, “Will you put that thing down, and pick me up instead??”  He wins the prize for this week’s most committed and single-minded attention-lover, which is a proud achievement for someone who’s been in the world less than 12 weeks.

Tiana and Jordan are brother and sister – but so different in almost every way.  Jordan was tall and thin and long.

Tiana was little and black and fuzzy, and made friends easily.

Her friend here is Ashley, a little older at maybe 5 or 6 months, a bundle of energy, and clearly a lover of little kittens.

Someone was there looking at Jordan and Tiana and wanted to take them together, so I hope they have already gone to a good home.