Author: annagoebel
Flora and Fauna come out!
Today was a red-letter day for Flora and Fauna! We opened the door to their popup pen and let them out into the big room. Flora wasn’t too sure she wanted to leave the security of her limited home, but Fauna was out like a shot to explore. She also found it scary, and had to retreat a few times, but she has been wanting this for a long time.
The room used to be filled with kittens – only Nalia and her three, but three kittens can easily fill a room! Not only that, but they were not totally healthy kittens. Nalia and family seem to now be healthy, and they have been moved to a different room. This room has been thoroughly vacuumed and disinfected, so we hope it’s now a safe playground for the adventurous Fauna and her sister – but they do miss the kittens to interact with!
Fauna is having so much fun! She explores, and she gets to have real zoomies! She has scope to really chase a toy on a string, and she is quickly feeling comfortable enough to do it. Flora has come out briefly, explored a bit, and then dashed back. She will sit a the doorway of the popup and watch the toy, or watch Fauna – and soon I’m sure she will be out too.
We’ll be letting them out every evening for playtime, and my hope is that eventually they can be out all the time.
Flora and Fauna love playtime in their popup
Flora and Fauna are adult cats, but probably not more than 2 years old. They are so playful! We play with them with string toys through the top of their popup or I will sit in the doorway. It’s their favorite time of day! Better than feeding time. 🙂 They even have a miniature cat tree to climb.
Fauna is the darker torbie on the top level. Flora is the butterscotch tabby below.
These two females are so pretty. They had a rough life recently, but are gradually regaining confidence. They are not listed for adoption yet, because they still have trust issues, but if you would like to get to know them, contact me. They have lovely personalities and will gradually blossom in to very affectionate kitties – once they trust people again.
Nalia and kittens gallery
Mom is Nalia, kittens are Spike (darker tabby), Pixel (black), and Firefly (lighter tabby). Spike and Pixel are boys.
Nalia and kittens update August
Nalia is so beautiful – there are several photos of her in the Gallery post I put up today, but they don’t really do her justice. She has such delicate features. The most likely candidate for her dad is a black and white cat who is half Maine Coon. She inherited his big, floofy tail, and looks more like a Maine Coon than he does – but tiny. She was only a little over 5 pounds when we got her.
Nalia came in July, with kittens who were, we estimate, born the second week in June. They were small, but their pre-molars were starting to come in, so we figured 6 to 7 weeks old. There is Spike, a brown/gray tabby male; Firefly, a reddish/gray tabby female; and Pixel, a solid black male. Pixel is also called Soot Sprite, because he really looks like one of the Soot Sprites in “My Neighbor Totoro,” an animated film by Hayao Miyazaki. If you haven’t seen it, you really should. 🙂
The family was confined to the Jiro Palace for a week or so, but soon turned loose in the big room. It gives scope to their zoomies, and they take full advantage!
Spike is the most cuddly, Pixel is a little imp, and Firefly the most thoughtful. They were quite friendly from day one, and I think it’s in their genetics. They’d never had any interactions with people, but, although they were startled by the big transition, they were open to being friends right away.
Nalia herself is more cautious. Of the three adults we have from that farm, she is the most shy. She’ll jump in my lap for treats, however, so it’s just a matter of time and working with her. She’s a very affectionate kitty.
Raw Kittenhood
My little kitten that I helped by bottle supplementing inspired a poem. It is also published on my Patreon account here. Read her story here.
Twenty feet away, beyond the door,
Five kittens start their brand-new lives.
I listen, and try hard to let them do their job,
Not make it mine.
Give them a week and they’ll be cute; tonight
Their tiny, mighty bodies
Strive
With all the fire of urgency they brought into this life.
There is no fluff, no cuteness, only this:
Get there. Find mom, find milk, or die; there’s nothing else.
Who knew the tiny ones, still
Birth-wet from their mother’s womb, came armed with
All the power of Earth, of Life itself.
And, sometimes, only sometimes, it’s enough.
—copyright © 2022 by Anna Lisa Goebel
Flora and Fauna, August update
I posted when we got Flora and Fauna, in mid-July. They are two females who had had some bad experiences, so I knew gaining their trust would be a challenge. Fauna got progressively more comfortable with us, but in three weeks I only saw glimpses of Flora three times. They live in a huge popup with a blanket draped over a box, and Flora didn’t come out from under the blanket during daylight hours even if we weren’t in the room.
There is a lot going on in that room. Nalia and her kittens have the run of the room, and in another popup are Foxfire and her kittens. People come and go – feed, water, clean litter boxes, weigh kittens, play with Nalia and family – and with Fauna – and make general people noises. From under her blanket, Flora monitored it all.
Flora, after several weeks, decided it was safe to be somewhat visible, and would sit in the box and watch things. Although she had never seen most of it, nothing she saw seemed to surprise her; she knew all about it from sounds and smells.
In the meantime Fauna was becoming very bold and playful. She loves the kittens and would very much like to come out and play with them. She loves toys of any kind, and begs for us to play with her. She loves Churu and other treats as well. She is beautiful and has tons of personality. She is leery of being touched, but she will come close for treats, and is getting more confident all the time.
Flora now comes all the way out. She will sometimes come for canned food, but the real way to her heart is with playtime. Like Fauna, she is super playful. The best way to lure her out is with a peacock feather, but she loves other toys as well. After playing she will usually flop down at the back of the popup and just chill. Such a joy to have our “ghost” kitty out and about!
One of the fun things about the popup, from the point of view of Nalia’s kittens, is that you can climb it. It’s one of Spike’s favorite pastimes. Nalia once jumped up to see what Spike was doing, and half the popup collapsed; she didn’t do that again! It takes all three kittens to collapse it – although they’re growing – and luckily it’s usually just Spike cruising around up there.
Sometimes one of Nalia’s kittens will manage to get past me and into the popup. Fauna and Flora are very used to them and don’t seem to have a problem with it. The only reason they can’t be together is that the kittens have had Giardia. Once they are over that, and they’ve been vetted (tomorrow), they will be allowed supervised visits. I think everyone will enjoy that.
For more pics, I’ll be posting a Gallery shortly.