I’ve been lax in both taking photos and in doing updates on the two Norwegian Forest cats we adopted, not because they are not now important parts of my life, but because I am not much of a photographer when it comes to daily activities and talking too much about kittens felt performative after a point.
Both are doing very well on a number of fronts and go in this morning to get altered so we don’t have frustrated male cats doing what frustrated male cats do. And microchipped.
Grendel, the bigger by far, crested 9.5 pounds a week ago at just over 5 months of age. Grímnir is just over 8.25 pounds. For reference, most cats are 5-7 pounds at this age. They are starting to look less like kittens, and are harder to pick out in low light as the two new additions.
Grendel went from being “meh” about treats to being highly treat motivated, which means I’ve been able to teach him the following commands with some success: come, sit, up, down, “boop” (he puts his nose to my finger for a treat), “high five”, “five”, and lay down. He is less interested in getting down from something for a treat, but will do it and is starting to understand “no.” He is recognizing his name — whether he responds as expected is another thing. He is the clown and goof of the two and will do silly things just because he feels like being silly.
Grímnir is less adept at commands, which surprises me, as he is the more serious of the two and is puzzle-centric. He does up/down, sit, “boop” and “up” in a sitting context where he reaches up for fingers. He can’t seem to figure out lay down, and is struggling with five and high five. He’s become the bigger puppydog of the two and likes playing with toys on his own.
I’ll admit, I am nervous about today’s operation after what happened to Ghost a few years back (five? wow). Ghost was my Maine Coon kitten who had a reaction to the anesthetic and suffered severe brain damage because of the time it took before they could resuscitate him. This is a different clinic that feels better equipped to handle such emergencies, but I always get nervous after my experience with Ghost, whether the operation is for teeth, taking a tissue sample or any other standard procedure that requires sedation. I know what happened to Ghost was extremely rare, but I can’t help but be nervous.
Anyway, wish the boys luck. About to put them in their carriers and go…