I don’t care what my breeder friends say, raising a kitten is just as challenging as having a baby. Possibly more so.
Sure, I didn’t have to expel this adorable foundling from my nether regions. My breasts haven’t gotten all huge and uncomfortable and leaky. And I don’t have to change any nappies because cats are superior beings who are litter trained practically at birth.
But human babies can’t jump two feet in the air while play fighting with resentful siblings. They also can’t jump on the kitchen table and lick the frozen lasagne you just heated up for dinner. And human babies don’t attack your hand when you try to break up said fights.
The kitten known as Pip Squeak Festivus Brian Dumbledore is here to stay (for a physical description see my last post). I’ll spare you the etymologies that make up his name, and 98% of you probably deciphered them inside a nanosecond anyway.
My cat Maggie is nine years old and for most of her life she was the baby of my small and changing family. And for the past year and a half she has been an only cat and my closest companion. Naturally, my sweet girl feels threatened by the presence of this adorable but obviously evil little punk. And Pip does not soften the blow when he jumps on her head, even though he means no harm.
Pip is a typical kitten in the sense that he’s cute and charming and has no boundries. But I don’t remember Maggie being this bitey when I first brought her home and she was almost exactly the same size.
Emotionally I’m somewhere in between awe over how Maggie is holding her own against the little rapscallion and worrying that she thinks her mummy is punishing her by brining the tiny nut home.
True, there are no bags under my eyes and I’m not worried about how I’m going to lose my kitten weight. But I am pulling off a rather tricky balancing act these days (rather shakily). How do I make the little guy feel welcome while still making sure that my eldest still knows she is very much loved?
Much like human babies, cats don’t understand why the world is the way it is and why it does not revolve around them alone. Actually, they don’t really understand the second concept at all.
But I am a little sleep-deprived. Perhaps that’s why I sound a little weepy and might be worrying a little too much–oops, must go and give Pip a time out.
Pictures to follow!
