Kittens Growing up on the Homestead

 

If you have seen any of the videos over the past months since August, you have probably seen one or both of these kittens already. Living in an area just far enough out of the woods to have a lot less predators than frequented the old location, and observing that several neighboring farm or ranch cats seem to be fairing well over time, it was time to have some kitties join our new little homestead. Because cats are neat, and it's nice to have a good rodent patrol crew on the job. It seems many of you enjoy seeing kitten photos, so here is a collection of some of my favorite shots since these little fur balls joined us. 

Velcro, named for her desire to stick to people no matter what you are doing, joined us first back in the summer. She's the fluffy kitty and loves people more than any cat I have ever met. If you are sitting for even a second she will appear and

deposit herself in your lap. If you are working in the garden, she may suddenly appear on your back or shoulder. If you are kneeling to do something, she'll suddenly be sprawled across your legs. Even if you are standing, she may launch herself in the air to try to stick to your chest or arm. Her name fits her well. And she loves being petted. Insisting by repeatedly bumping your hand with her nose to try to force you to pet her if you've stopped. 

She's been super friendly since the day she joined us at 12 weeks old from a local ranch who had a few extra kittens looking for a home. 

How could you possibly work without a kitten on your knee? 

Quickly convincing Burley that she was a great playmate and friend with her overwhelming friendliness. These two love each other now. They will play together, curl up and nap together, and if Clay's dog Tana gets close to her, Burley will run over and get in between with an attitude of "that's MY kitten, and you can't touch her."

Wasn't she an adorable tiny little thing? You can watch some of her kitten antics in this video among others.

Of course like all baby things, she rapidly started to grow out of that small baby kitten stage. She follows me like a puppy around the property while I work, and loves to poke through the woods and brush.

As she has grown, quite a few folks have said she looks like a Main Coon. While her face does a bit, to the best of our knowledge, she is a purebred Wyoming ranch cat mutt. ☺ And two things make me think there is not any Main Coon in her heritage. First, I've never seen Main Coon kittens being given away, they are usually quite expensive (and none of her litter-mates looked even remotely like one). And as she's grown, though you can't always tell the scale from a photo, she looks to be ending up maturing into a smaller than average cat. Far from being extra large. 

Then late this fall, we were able to find her a kitty companion. And Zipper joined us. With her name already being Velcro, and looking at his stripped coloration, and his tendency to vanish in a zip every time you got close to him, Zipper just seemed to be the right name choice. 

Unlike her, this little fellow arrived thinking all people were scary and that dogs were terrifying. He also is a purebred Wyoming ranch cat mutt to the best of our knowledge, from a different local ranch. He did like Velcro right from the start, cuddling with her to sleep, playing together, and even though she's not that much older than him, Velcro seemed to do a lot of mothering of him. 

Zipper also likes to explore the outdoors and will even follow me back and forth from the house to the shop or barn. Though I don't think he's really following me. He would follow Velcro, and she would follow me. ☺

He was also a very cute little baby though it took him a while to warm up to us. Now he loves being petted by me and is considering that Clay might be ok. Though Burley is allowed almost close enough to say hi, he's still sure that dogs are terrible. Which seems to break poor Burley's heart as when he gets hissed at, he'll turn around and gaze at me with this expression of "Why does this kitten hate me? I love kittens! I'm really good at being friendly and playing with them." And then he'll go play with Velcro instead while Zipper watches suspiciously from a distance. 

You can see some more of his kitten antics in this video.

But as they grow, the two cats seem to really enjoy being close to each other most of the time. Doing all the crazy cat things. Like, never mind that we have a comfy bed to sleep in that we like some of the time. Other times, we want to both sleep on top of the same bucket lid at the same time. Or maybe nap while using a flashlight and tape measure as a pillow.

But they do have a cozy bed in the shop near the wood stove and they both cuddle and sleep there too. While they are growing and it's wintery, they are outdoors most of the day like all the rest of us, and are confined to the shop overnight. There's tons of space in there for playing in compared to the house, and that keeps them somewhere safe from any possible bigger critters through the night.

Of course being kittens, they also like to play fight. At times stalking each other and then launching into aerial combat like this just for fun. Before going back into nap with each other mode. In some odd corner or another.

The wood piles are endless sources of amusement. Providing holes to pop in and out of, things to climb over, and generally being a great kitten jungle gym.

And chasing snow chunks seems to be another fun game. 

Or watching snowflakes fall.

Or sitting in wheelbarrows.

Or stalking each other from behind snow piles.

And so on. You'll find more of their antics along with some of the other animals playing in the snow in this video.

Even though he's still young, I think Zipper is rapidly looking quite masculine compared to Zipper. She doesn't have any of that manly look to her face, but I think he's going to mature into a big tough tom cat. As I mentioned, it looks like Velcro's going to stay a little smaller than average cat. It's been fun watching them both grow and how different their personalities are!