And Then They Were Three...

Two Was Not Enough

"Would you like a kitten?" said the owner of an obliging yard.

"I'll have to ask my sister."

Gets home.

"You need to come with us.  There is a surprise for you."

"Surprise! Pick a kitten."

Meet my new kitten, Ophelia. She* was all calm when we picked her out in the yard where she had been living.  Calm no longer, she chases Alice around the house and annoys "Old Man Cat Face" Francis with her constant desire to play. He has been allowed a special privilege the last couple weeks - while the kitten got settled - of retreating to the main bedroom.  She is an all black tabby (stripes are visible in bright light) with some random white hairs along her sides and back.  She is going to have some fluff when she grows up.

"What happened? Why?"

Turning the Tables  

Before Ophelia joined the household, Alice (2) has been the main source of kittenish energy in the household.  She spent her day chirping at the birds through the windows or pestering Francis (10).  When she first had direct interaction with the mysterious being that had been living in the small hallway, she was quite disturbed.  She did not know what to make of the small wriggling furry critter who wanted to run at her. She ran away from the kitten with a look of startled fear in her eyes. But after another day of supervised interaction, she had clearly taken to having a new playmate, in spite of the continued hissing.

New playmate!

Once the new cat tree arrived, the kitten was given full time range of the main living area, which she thoroughly enjoys.  It has also greatly decreased the disturbances between her and Alice since they have a large space in which they can coexist (most of the time).  Alice also likes having an even higher perch from which she can watch all the goings on of the household.

"Détente?"

Most of the hissing now only happens when the kitten is annoying Francis too much.  Alice has taken to her new playmate, and they bat at each other from the various levels of the new cat tree.

Capture the flag - cat style.

But really, who can resist a kitten?

You cannot resist me.

You really cannot...

Not ever! For I am a kitten.

"You walk in the garden of my turbulence!"

To be continued...

*Update 9/29/2018: It has been some weeks now since I posted this, and in that time, we noticed that Ophelia was developing clears signs that she was actually a he. He had a sibling who was more obviously a boy, so we thought she was a he. No official renaming had taken place, but I was already calling him Stinky as a form of affection.