The boys are 6 months old, now, so I will refer to them as KitCats

[Siwsan]

Hard to believe I've had Madoc for 5 whole months. Watching him grow from a tiny, scrawny little squeak box kitten to a handsome, sleek young boy has been amazing. And, if Gryff keeps growing at this rate, I'll be putting a 'Beware of the Panther' sign on my front door.

They were extra snuggly, this morning. No wild pounces to wake me up - just a few kisses on my nose. And, after they had their breakfast, both curled up next to me and purred away.

If they will agree to pose, later today, I'll post some photos. Right now their feline sense tells them that I'm about to start getting the feral's food ready, and they always get a treat so I can distract them and get out the door without them trying to follow me.

Hopefully it's not TOO icy out there. I'm not exactly sure what last night's weather brought us, but it doesn't look bad.

[brewens]

1. My cat never wakes me up, even if I'm sleeping or napping through her normal feeding

or treat times. I have dry food out for her all the time though. She also gets wet food in the morning and some kitty treats in the evening. I'll wake up and there she is just sitting there staring at me. Once I'm awake, she'll meow at me until I get up and feed her, so there's no rolling over and going back to sleep.

[Siwsan]

2. I'm just glad the wake up call isn't still happening at 2:30 in the morning!

I wake up early, anyway, but if I'm still dozing by around 5:30, they boys are checking, maybe to see if I'm still breathing. They get fed, I go back to bed and turn on Discovery ID. When they are done eating, they curl up and watch with me.

Right now they are getting some wet and dry food in the mornings and evenings and I give them dry food during the day. Gryff is well satisfied with the routine, but Madoc seems to be in CONSTANT search for food. He's just now started to jump up on the kitchen counter, so I have to keep the butter in the refrigerator, throughout the day, now. Sophie was a butter licker, too.

[wnylib]

3. Several years ago I had a

half Siamese, half tabby kitten who, I discovered, could get to higher places than I thought he could when he was just 9 weeks old.

My husband and I returned from a visit with a neighbor one Saturday morning to find Alex (the kitten) vomiting constantly. We took him to the vet who could find nothing wrong and said that Alex had probably eaten too much of something fairly harmless since he had no mouth burns, sores, or signs of toxicity. He gave him a shot of something and we went home with Alex.

When we entered through the door that opened into the kitchen, I noticed for the first time that the lid to the butter dish on the table was knocked over on its side. The dish was empty, but I had put a new stick of (real) butter on it in the morning when we got up. There were telltale little tongue marks smeared on the empty dish.

I had no idea that he could get up to the table until then. He was a leaper, but was so tiny at 9 weeks that the table seemed too high. He must have jumped onto a chair and then the table.

Alex never again even tried to eat butter.

[Siwsan]

4. I worry about him jumping on the stove and encountering a hot burner

I've made a real effort to remove ANYTHING edible. Chocolate stuff is (hopefully) out of reach and I'm going to buy a bread box.

Gryff has been paying frighteningly close attention to Madoc's new behavior. I keep anticipating hearing a loud crash. Might be time to completely reorganize the counter tops and store stuff I've never had to store, before.

[wnylib]

5. I started putting bread in the fridge.

When I took muffins or brownies out of the oven, I started putting them in the microwave to cool, or on a plate in a closet.

This went on for a few years. Now that she's 6 years old, she seems to have lost the desire to explore everything on the counter and taste everything in sight. There are still some things that she would grab if she had a chance, like luncheon meat, chicken, or anything with tuna in it. But she leaves bread and cookies alone now.

Ember never directly leaped onto the stove. She sneaked onto the counter often enough when the burners were on that I think she learned to avoid the stove. My stove is built in with counter surfaces on both sides. Ember did amaze me sometimes by stepping across the stove to get to a counter on the other side when the burners were still hot after I had just cooked something. But she avoided stepping directly on the burners themselves.

I should mention that I have never allowed cats on the counter or table in my home (at least when I'm there), but Ember has been the greatest challenge to that rule that I have ever seen. We finally brokered a compromise. There is one small section of the counter where I never put dishes or food, so I gave up on keeping her away from there. She stays off of the table when there is food there, but occasionally hops up there for some petting if I sit at the table reading or doing word puzzles in the newspaper. I have alcohol wipes that I use on the table before eating or putting any food or dishes on it.

[tblue37]

6. I just woke up from a dream in which I repeatedly referred to someone's ex-husband as

Madoc. When she asked who Madoc was, I told her it was her ex; she was very confused. (Her ex is actually named Matthew.)