While she loves being petted, and is seldom far away, those little kitten moments where she would fall asleep on our chest are a thing of the past.
She’s just too busy exploring her world.
But many visitors have remarked upon her large paws. Yes! I love the big kittens. She’s a little small for her age, but she’ll catch up.
Olwyn’s social side is in full bloom. Every visitor is checked out, has their shoes smelled thoroughly, and even gets some cuddles. She’s an excellent example to Mr. Bond and RJ, who are cautious about new people.
Olwyn got over her own sniffles, but gave them to Mr. Bond. At his age, I take no chances, so he got a vet visit along with her next checkup. (Olwyn got taken along in a friend’s chinchilla carrier. That’s a way to get noticed… walk into the vet’s office with a little carrier with cartoon rodents all over it.)
There was a funny moment when we were hunting Mr. Bond down and he went for the doorway; only Olwyn was there. He didn’t bowl her over or muscle her aside, and this gave me enough time to grab him.
Poor Mr. Bond. The kitten foils him again.
But Olwyn looooooves Mr. Bond. So many of her behaviors have mimicked his from the beginning; the way she shakes her paw when refusing cantaloupe, the way she likes to ambush her prey, the way she sneaks up on our hearts.
Mr. Bond loves her back. Saturday morning, RJ was a quivering mass of excitement over having his own kitten, and the wrestle session got a bit too rowdy.
Olwyn squealed and RJ immediately let go. So I didn’t step in, except to say that he’s being too rough; she’ll be glad to wrestle with him if he’d just keep his vastly larger body in check.
But that wasn’t enough for Mr. Bond, who got out of his chair to walk over to RJ, and whap his head a couple of times. Don’t-make-the baby-cry!
Poor RJ had to hide for a few hours until it all blew over.
Olwyn has brought out RJ’s baby side. It’s not so much that he’s regressing, though he is excited about having a kitten to play with. It’s that he can’t help but display his uncertainty with the process. As someone I’ve developed from severe deprivation, it’s no surprise that he didn’t have a lot of littermate time.
A long littermate period is a vital developmental time where cats learn social signals.
Olwyn’s favorite things at almost-five-months are:
Getting us to do things for her. Her already excellent ability hit a new, higher, plateau as we find ourselves feeding her more often and playing with her at odd moments of the day.
Olwyn is learning how to invite these moments at the right time for us, too.
Communicate her needs. She’s reaching a growth spurt, and it’s entirely natural that she would get hungrier. We feed her. No problem.
Throughout her life, she will need the ability to let us know what she wants and needs. With a cat, this is vital information.
Being darned cute. It’s true that the round little younger doofuses, the three months and younger kittens, have an edge. But Olwyn daily shows that these are amateurs.
She models what determination and pluck will reap from the humans. The two bigger, older, boys are in a bit of awe over her power.
As they should be. Olwyn is developing into a force of nature.
The boys will learn a thing or two from her in the coming years.
This post was about how our new kitten is fitting into a family of two humans, and two Beta boys of widely varying age. See all my Olwyn posts.
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