Camping with Cuties

First, allow me to introduce the Cuties:

The gray streak would be Attilla the Cute; the darker cat-shaped blot is Tamercutie.  The names will be explained in due course, and are subject to change.

For years I have been wanting a cat or kitten, and have exercised tremendous self-control in refraining from getting one, because of my travel plans.  For having a cat to work for me, it needed to be a travel cat, and I figured the best way to get a travel cat was to get a kitten and raise it on the road.  I even took a small foldable carrier/crate on my big trip, just in case.  But it quickly became apparent that adding another critter to the load on that trip would have been overkill, so I made it home kitten-free.

But once home, I began thinking about it.  And thinking about it.  And realized there would never be a perfect time, and I’m getting older every day, and if I was going to do this, I might as well do it now.  So a couple of weeks ago, I went to the animal shelter, “just to look”.  And they had kittens, lots of them.  The darker of these two particularly appealed to me, but they were caged together, so when we got them out, both came, and then it was clear from the way they played together that they were seriously bonded.  But–TWO kittens?  Seriously?  Went home to think about it.

And went back the next day, in the van this time, and with CJ along, because this has to work for her, too.  Took them out to the van to see how it would go:

CJ was interested and not aggressive.  Somehow she knew she couldn’t chase them–maybe just because the van is too small for all-out dog-case-cat activities.

The kittens were in no way intimidated by CJ–in fact, basically ignored her.  So I took them home with me.  At this point, they were named Tim and Tom, with the shelter people a bit vague on which was who.  For a variety of reasons, I knew I wouldn’t stick with those names.

Took them camping the next day.  I figure I have to drive them around a lot for an entire year for this to work, and wanted to start right away.  You can’t have kittens playing around your feet or twining around your shoulders and arms while driving, so set this up to contain them:

Which has worked pretty well.  They cried a bit when we set out, but settled down quickly, and napped all the way out there, a drive of about two hours.  As soon as I got the van settled into a site, I opened up the crate.  It took a minute or so, but then one, the lighter-colored one, emerged–and took off zooming around the van.  I laughed, and said (to myself, of course–who else would I have been talking to? I’m not crazy.  Yet.  Heh-heh.) “Here comes Attilla the Hun”.  And then modified it to Attilla the Cute, for obvious reasons, and thought, “You know, that might work for a name”.  Needing something comparable for the other kitten, I came up with Tamercutie (look up Tamerlane, if you don’t get the reference.)

Here’s some of what CJ and I got to see on this first trip.

 

 

I don’t think CJ realizes how much she’s benefitting from having the Cuties around.  She’s been reluctant to get into the van–I think lots and lots of hours on the road or otherwise stuck in the van is more salient in her memory than the excellent walks we get to take while out.  But tough–I do remember, so will continue to be mean and force her to come along 🙂

Raising travel cats requires lots of frequent travel.  In addition to overnight trips, I take them on short drives but then end up back home for the night, but these are not worth posting.  Our next real trip was out to Sunset Bay.  The drive was made easier by the fact that they got their next dose of shots and deworming that morning, and slept all afternoon.

I actually got mildly concerned, but they perked up that evening.

The campsite was just OK, but staying overnight was totally worth it because of the walk, or I should say walks, the next morning, of which these will give you a taste:

 

 

 

 

 

Having done a couple of one-nighters, the next step was to go out for a couple of nights.  Headed a bit further from home for this.  The first night was in a very nice, well maintained and civilized state park, with lots of very unconcerned deer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The campground is right by the river, and CJ had a blast:

 

 

 

 

The second campground was more primitive, a tiny Forest Service campground (only 8 sites) and much less developed.  Cheap.  Excellent shade.  Creek about 15 ft. down the bank behind the van.  Good walking nearby.  I really liked it.

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, back at the house, in between outings, I started expanding Cutie horizons.  First in the house (we’re working on the wires thing):

 

 

And then outdoors.  Actually, the first attempt to expose them to the outdoors was away from the house, and not overly successful

(I had thought I might camp there, but there were WAY too many mosquitoes.) Later, in another spot, they did emerge for a bit:

And when we got home, I tried the back yard.  They didn’t seem to like the grass much:

So I took them to the patio area, which they were MUCH more enthusiastic about.  To the extent that I didn’t get good pics–they moved too fast for me.  But here’s something.

 

They now join CJ and me on the deck:

 

 

And on the two-nighter, I got them outside for about 15 minutes each place.  As you can see, I had trouble getting good pictures, partly because of light and partly because critters just move so quick.

 

 

 

 

When one went up a tree

I figured out this might not be such a good idea.  If one went up high and couldn’t figure out how to get back down, we were going to be tough out of luck, so I snagged him and put them both back in the van.

Throughout all this, bonding has occurred.  The kittens were already very bonded to each other:

But now they are also bonded to me

And at least blasé about CJ

In order to be full travel cats, they must also learn to deal with being on a leash.  First step in this has been taken–putting halters on them.  It took only about 5 minutes for them to accept the halters, and I’ve just left them on, partly because they are so cute (and help me tell them apart at a glance).

 

Next step will be to attach a light leash or piece of string and let them drag it around.   Which should happen soon.

The obsessive play is slowing down, indicating a possible name change soon.  Am considering Cloud (for the lighter one, in the blue halter) and Shadow.  Shadow is sticking in my head better than Cloud–I’ve considered Cloud Boy, which in turn triggers Cowboy.  Cowboy and Shadow?  What do you think?

Whew–all caught up.  This was a long one.