Time Goes By

This winter the kittens will be two. The time has flown since that cold day in April we drove one thousand miles to collect them from a shelter in NY State. We agree they are worth every mile.

I love the way a feline's personality and their relationship with you grows. On the drive back, Harper calmly sat next to me in the back seat of the car, looking up at me and giving me eye blinks. He looked like a mini Yoda with those big paws. Ramona was shyer but she came out of the crate too to sit closer to me. She was ill with an infected eye and URI and they were only seven weeks old. The shelter's vet had said the best thing for them was to get them out of the shelter, which was cold and overcrowded since it was new and under construction. Their beautiful mother, Maya, had been adopted.

So they came here and we put them in a room of their own and every night I would get up around 2 A.M. and bring them some warm, wet food which they would gobble up. Then Ramona went through a phase where she was so ill she wouldn't eat. She pulled though and her eye healed, much to our relief.





When she got better she pursued Brendan until her admiration won him over. The rest is history, as you know.



While Brendan was alive he slept on the bed in between us on his special heat pad, which no one else ever lay on. After losing him, both kittens have joined us. And in the evenings they have learned to come upstairs for a lap sit in front of the Noisy Box. Lately I get Ramona and Olof gets Harper.

It always amazes me that we can develop an understanding relationship with these small tigers. Some tine ago Ramona was on my lap when she looked up into my eyes and we gazed at each other for a long time. I felt the understanding coming from her, we are two species yet we connect and we are one tribe. If I pick her up she purrs and I always wonder when they start to connect being safe with being with us. And when they learn that the feeling we have for them is love.

They are developing their own ritoileys too. Those are the things cats figure out that they do every day with you. I think cats find ritual very comforting. Brendan used to say that a good day was a normal day. And I think a cat has a normal day when the ritoiley happens on schedule.

For Ramona it is running down the stairs with me in the morning for breakfast. Then going out after Dawn Patrol and coming in at noon for lunch and then in the evening to have the door shut. She is also learning the evening lap sit. Harper has the ritoiley that he doesn't eat until I put a taste of his food on my finger for him. And he loves to hop up on the toilet seat and get a firm grooming session. He'll put his paws up on the back of the toliet and snorkle loudly to show how much he lilkes it. Now when he hears the shower running her will wait outside the door and yell until you open up and brush him.

Harper also comes in for a hug in the middle of the night, yelling to wake up his chosen hugger to make room for him. And he climbs up and puts his head on my chest in the morning while I read the news.

I think there is another stage in a cat's understanding on their relationship with humans when they learn that they give you comfort. Then they start seeing your well being as their responsibility. That's when they come to you if you are wide awake at 3 AM or sick in bed. I believe Ramona remembers being sick and being cared for and now she cares for us.

I think that when you reach that stage your understanding of each other and your bonding is complete.

Harper is communicating that I will not get another cuddle from him until he has been Out and Border Patrol must be done.