She's also started to rule with an iron claw... Alex, our big Bernese Mountain Dog, has become totally smitten with her.
For now "Little Baby Kitty" (yeeeah, she needs a name lol) is living in a large wire dog crate. She's going to be a barn cat so it's the safest way to introduce her to the current residents. For the record Oleta's nose is QUITE out of joint about the little intruder, Eli thinks he needs to be tough so he half hearted growls and hisses and Oliver just denies she exists. So for now she's in a big wire crate in the same room in the barn where we feed the rest of the cats.
I brought her home early Thursday evening and when I went to do chores before bed I took Alex with me, as per usual. I showed him the kitty and he got really excited but she hissed & arched. I made Alex lay down and took her out of the crate. She ran over to him and rubbed up against his head., and from that moment it was over. It's love lol Alex followed her around as she explored the barn and was very reluctant to leave when I put her back in her crate.
Friday morning it was more of the same but Friday night is what this story is really all about...
I decided to let LBK roam free while I did the last feeding. It was pretty nice out and I was curious to see if she'd stick around or make a bid for freedom.
She followed me around as I gathered empty hay nets. Which is where the heart attacks started. At every pen she'd wander under the bottom rail and go check out the horses. I kept thinking she'd get hurt, but every.single.horse (and donkey) just froze as still as could be and then sloooowly lowered their head to sniff her. When she bumped up against their muzzles they froze some more.
Not a single one moved until she had left their pen. Meanwhile Alex and Hera (who had just met her) hovered anxiously like mother hens. Whenever she was on the non-horse side of the fences they sniffed her to make sure she was okay and then followed her wherever she decided to go, which was generally where I was.
After a bit she seemed to be getting cold so I put her in m vest pocket for a bit and she just rode around until she was warmer and then hopped out (another small heart attack). She continued to follow me for a bit, but I lost track of her after a few minutes. No worries though, I just had to look for the dogs and I knew exactly where she was lol When I was ready to go back to the barn I crouched down and said "Hey Little Baby Kitty!" and she ran straight to me, of course both dogs shadowed her. I walked into the barn and she followed again so I closed the doors and let her (and Alex) roam and explore so that she didn't think going into the barn equals being jailed.
After a little while though I had to return her to the crate. Which started her pitiful crying so of course Alex had to rush over to investigate what was wrong with "his" little baby *eyeroll* I opened the door to leave the barn and Alex would NOT leave. Seriously, even telling him to go or that we were going to play ball (a recent obsession) would not get him to leave his baby's side. I had to actually grab his collar and escort him out.
She is pretty little still (10 weeks) so I don't mind keeping her locked up some. It would be nice though if the other cats will start to accept her and she'll be able to get sprung from jail fairly soon, and she could snuggle up with them to stay warm. (it's not too bad out yet thank goodness but the cold is coming)
Gotta find a name for her soon though...
