Neighbours kittens

[ShadowsShadowsEverywhere]

We've recently had new neighbours move in next door. Towards the end of last week two kittens appeared in their garden, I'm not sure whether they'd just got them or had been keeping them inside for a few days.
One of the kittens kept popping its head over our fence and watching DCs playing.

Yesterday when I went to take the bins out the same kitten was sat on my path mewing. As soon as she saw the open door she was in the house. I ushered her out the back door, but she spent the rest of yesterday coming back in, or playing with the DCs toys in the garden. Every time something made her jump she ran to me and hid under my long skirt! By about 6.30 she was clearly hungry, had jumped up and eaten some scraps in my kitchen and drank DSs milk, so I shooed her back out the front door where I'd found her as she just didn't seem to want to go over the fence back to her own garden.

She was v v thin and seemed confused about where home was. Yesterday she was coming in the windows from the garden and mewing a lot. What do I do if she comes back today? It's obviously more interesting here as neighbours are out most of the day and we are home from lunchtime onwards most days and have a garden full of toys and balls etc which she spent hours playing with yesterday. I'm worried about how thin she looked but don't know a lot about cats or kittens so don't know how normal that is. Any advice would be v much appreciated!

None of us understand them either.

Had a lovely afternoon playing musical statues with the DCs and then we had a cushion fight followed by carpet picnic and Ice Age 3.

Boys have been in and out all day, initially Buttons was in the same room but asleep, Merlin was fine with her although left pretty much as soon as he spotted her, but Tortie still had issues. Then Buttons went and had a sleep in the utility room and we had loud music on so I shut her in there and checked every half hr to see if she had woken up. The boys came in again and were a bit stand offish but warmed up as the afternoon went on. They didn't stay for long though and definitely don't seem as playful. Then in the past half hour Buttons has woken up so I let her into the living room and Merlin's come in. He's had a cuddle and done some kitten style mewing at me all with one eye on Buttons. Then he made this weird long miaow noise at her and they seem to be friends now?

Both boys have been fed twice today and were v hungry. They smell back to normal today.

Happy birthday Shadows

Good to hear all the cats are tolerating each other

I think they were just getting used to one of their mums having a new kitten!

Morning all.

I have some kitten questions!

Buttons has now fully come out of her shell, and she's in no way timid. She's is crazy whizz round the house kitten, she climbs things, pounces on things and we can now stroke and pick her up all the time without problem. So far so good. However, she is so very playful that if you happen to have bare feet and move said feet she will pounce on an play bite your toes. She chases hands as well especially if you're stroking her or doing something like typing when your fingers move fast. Is this ok, or do I need to discourage toe biting and hand pouncing? I obv want her to play because it's how she is learning, but I'm a little petrified at the thought of a much larger kitten leaping on my hands whenever they move. How do I discourage?

She's really bonded with DD. At DDs bedtime she comes up and lays on DDs pillow until she's asleep. DD has calmed right down this week, and has started being able to talk about things that are worrying her if she's stroking Buttons which is a really huge step. Last night they were curled up in bed together and as I left the room she said "Nunight mummy, I'm happy" which was so lovely.

She sounds adorable :-)
I would discourage the hand attacking as while it may cute now, it won't be when she's bigger. Getting her to chase toys on the end of string like fishing rod toys is a great way to play without getting injured yourself!

If she's anything like mine though, she'll grow out of pouncing on you.

Roll up some paper and tie a long bit of string round the middle. Then let dd run about trailing it behind her. Cats love it and it's the cheapest toy on earth!

Cats are well known to be therapeutic, and it is soooooo lovely to hear about the effect Buttons is having on dd. "Nunight mummy, I'm happy" brought tears to my eyes for both of them (and you ).

Toe biting and finger fighting. Well, they're irresistible in kitten world, but yes, in big cat mode a whole different story. I used to gently hold paws. Two of our cats are very very gentle and will play fight with us without extending their claws at all, but one does get her claws out. Worth a try.

It's lovely that your DD is bonding so well with Buttons and that the kitten is having such a calming effect on her. I agree that pets have a powerful therapeutic effect on families. My younger son was terrified of having cats, but he's now beginning to hold our kittens and cuddle them and you can visibly see him relaxing. You can't be stressed when you're holding a fluffy kitten!

I love what your DD said at bedtime.

Yes I had something in my eye when she said it Jux. She's been really struggling with Daddy not being around much (EOW contact is all he can do due to his job) and it feels like forever to a 3yo. She's been telling Buttons all about it, and then came and told me that she felt better about Daddy because Buttons misses her mummy AND daddy, but DD only has to miss Daddy. Buttons is the first thing she talks about when she wakes up in the morning. She starts nursery 3 days a week tomorrow and seems to be feeling confident about that. We were talking about making friends and she said "mummy, I'm good at friends cos Buttons is my friend" so it's definitely given her a boost knowing that Buttons wants to play with her.

Will work on discouraging pouncing and biting, that toy suggestion sounds good, I can get DD to sit down and decorate it first, she would love that.

X posts Toffee, aww lovely to hear about another DC loving their kitten.

The funny thing was that we really bought the kittens for DS1 and DS2's first response was to wail that he'd now have to stay shut in his bedroom for the rest of his childhood! So it has been a pleasant surprise to find that, in fact, he is the son who has set about studying books on kittens and spends ages playing with them.

A friend of mine volunteers with a charity to take her dog to primary schools to listen to the children read: the children feel relaxed with the dog and not judged, so they can practise their reading more easily. It's such a clever idea. I can see how your DD feels able to tell the kitten things that she might not be able to tell an adult, even her mum (she might be worried about upsetting you, for instance). And it's lovely that your DD has had her confidence in making friends boosted by interacting with Buttons .

We've had a very busy morning, and for once while I was doing jobs, I didn't need to babysit DD with the tv, she's been playing with buttons instead. I'm fact I dug out an old audio book radio play of The Hobbit and we've been listening to that!

I'm so excited about Dd starting nursery tomorrow, she will be starting school this time next year! DS and I have lots of things planned to do together while she's there and I think I may cope slightly better with the mega tantrums if she's having them at home less

Thought you might like some more kitten photos. The boys have been shut out again after a rather out of the blue attack on Buttons. One minute they were all sat together fine, the next Merlin had lashed out with his claws out, Tortie was arched up and hissing and DD got scratched trying to dive in the middle. Not good. Buttons was unphased though, didn't hide, just carried on playing. Will put food outside for boys later, Tortie seems even thinner today.

Buttons is unbelievably sweet! I love the one of her sitting in the basket.

Did she catch that spider on the wall?

Sorry about the fight though. And that Tortie is looking so thin .

Yes she did toffee, at least to play with and then she let it escape under the sofa

Well we've been out in the garden all afternoon and the boys have been out with us, playing and back to their bouncy living selves. DD and I are both covered in cat hair from all the cuddles we've had foisted on us! They've followed us in and so far so good, as you can see!

Hehe, it didn't take much to convince you to become a cat mummy!

Love the last photo!

Which one is Merlin and which is Tortie? They are fairly similar in markings but I can see that one is a lot more black/tabby over the back of his neck...

That's a great photo. Amazing to think that only just over a month ago you didn't have a cat - and now you appear to have three!

Why is tortie getting thin though?.

They went home, they won't stay long while Buttons is about, I assume they are sulking! Progress tonight though, and hopefully as they grow and she does too they will manage to rub along together as they boys still love us. They actually mew and come running from several gardens away if I call out the window at the chickens, as they obv recognise my voice!

Merlin is on the right timtam, he is the more tabby one, he also has a smaller head and thinner longer tail. He is the more cuddly sit on your lap one, but Tortie talks to me more and follows me about purring. He used to be the one that climbed into the bed with me every morning, daft thing! I do miss their early morning cuddles but had plenty to make up for it in the garden this afternoon.

I don't know fluffy but adding it up they've eaten here three times today! and both had a full pouch plus whatever dry food was left in Buttons bowl at each sitting which suggests to me that neighbours still aren't feeding enough. I will keep feeding and keep letting them in. It would be interesting to know whether they'd have moved back in and not left if I didn't have Buttons wouldn't it? It's hard to tell if they are going home because they want to or because I've got a kitten. I did realise today that Buttons hidey hole is where Merlin used to sleep so they are probably feeling like I've replaced them.

Boys have not been let out today.

How's it going Shadows? And how's Buttons? :)

Hi Hamster, it's going ok! Buttons is doing great, is a complete loon now, bounces round the room like a ping pong ball has learnt to play bite v v gently and keeps claws in when playing which is great. I've had another chat with cats protection as neighbours went away for weekend and shut the boys in again. They asked me to have a look and see if I could see food and water which I could, so they said to call back if the food ran out or they had been left alone longer than 1 night. Neighbours came back tonight so obv cats protection won't do anything. They've made a note on the address etc so that if I call again they can escalate things but ATM it seems to be that everyone's hands are tied.

In other news, she mentioned another kitten they've had come in who can't be rehomed for another two weeks due to age. He's a male ginger boy, 6 weeks, mother and kittens abandoned and sadly the mother died of injuries sustained while they were abandoned. The other two kittens are poorly so are being cared for elsewhere and this boy is looking for a home with another kitten of similar age ... I said I would think about it. She did say that if they have to get involved re the boys, they would never consider rehoming to me because I live too close to the original owners and that's against their policy for safety reasons for new owner and pet. So I guess I really do have to let the boys go, and as she said "look out for them but from a safe distance".

I have given myself until tomorrow afternoon when I've got back from the nursery run to make a decision about ginger boy. She did say to me that they don't usually have "perfect" matches like this, usually they have a family who would suit a cat they rehomed the month before etc, that the timings don't usually line up which may be her attempt to get me to take the kitten or may be true, it certainly seems to be working out rather well.

What do you all think? Should I go for it?

I think you should remember the "5 small things" post and decide if you're ok with it potentially being 6! Or, you might have to decide to keep the boys out once and for all but look
out for them from a safe distance, as mentioned above.

I think having Ginger Boy and Buttons is a lovely idea, though. Late birthday from me, as I was on holiday the last 10 days.