For the time being, it appears we have cooled down in Minnesota (yes, the “land of snow and ice” often has temps around or warmer than the 90°F/32°C range with tropical humidity to go along with it during August and July). Summer’s not done with us for at least two or three more weeks and I’ve seen August levels of heat in October in my life. At least once in November.
If you don’t like the weather in Minnesota, wait fifteen minutes, as we like to say.
Anyway, yesterday evening was fairly cool (closer to 75°F) and so I decided to experiment with the Norsk skogkatter kittens. I pulled out the fancy and schmancy backpack carrier and simply opened it up. Grendel, who actually likes carriers, hopped right in — he’s explored the backpack in the past and saw nothing that warranted concern. Grímnir was not terribly interested in sharing the smaller space with his brother and went to explore other things in the house. I zipped it up (a first) and that didn’t seem to bother Grendel.
Then we went outside into the backyard. And just sat.
I realized today — sitting in the vet clinic and wondering who thought getting a new kitten was a great idea (much less two kittens) when I was looking at the charges associated with their vaccinations and impending neuter — that I have not recently updated the site with their progress.
Grendel, 16 1/2 weeks
Nor have I taken any decent pictures in the past few weeks. These are from two weeks ago. They are now MUCH larger and starting to develop personalities as well as picking up a few training things.
Grímnir, 16 1/2 weeks
My sticker shock came from finding out that what I thought was going to be a single booster shot and bloodwork for their upcoming surgery ended up running several hundred dollars more than expected with additional boosters, rabies vaccinations, additional bloodwork to look for markers for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), and being talked into giving them a topical preventative for heartworm (because they may be exposed to mosquitos carrying that disease as harnessed outdoor travelers.
Grendel (left) and Grímnir (right), around 15 weeks.
Oof, what a week. But first: kittens
Grendel and Grímnir are growing fast. About every 5 days, Grendel is putting on about 1/4 lb., while Grímnir has started moving at a more modest rate of about 1/8 lb. every five or so days. That make Grendel nearly 5.75 lbs. and Grímnir at 5.20 lbs. Already, these are getting to be big kitties. My smallish ragdoll cat, Pixel, has always hovered around 9.5-10 lbs. (he’s lost weight due to an illness), is quickly going to have larger brothers from another mother at this rate. I wouldn’t put it past Grendel topping 10 lbs. by Halloween and Grímnir not far behind. The way that Grendel likes to eat, it might be sooner.
It’s been just over a week since our two new family members joined us and I really wish I could say that we were all a big old blended family of felines but — as the fates would often have it — it was not meant to be. Not yet anyway.
While the current trend of kitten introduction is to slow-walk it over a period of weeks, I had honestly planned for a weekend (plus or minus a few days), let a little fur fly and paws catch air as the older cats got used to the idea of having new housemates. The band-aid method. I assume the sooner they go through the motions, the better and the quicker everyone will acclimate.
Well, everyone is settling in just fine. One of my older cats would probably be jealous that I am allowing the new guys into my office, but there is an element of training me as much as these two on that — I had a bad experience with losing electronic gear to investigative gnawing and I have to get the courage to accept that I can train them to not chew such things.
As promised, here are some photos done on a higher quality camera with some software lighting and color corrections. They were both thoroughly played out when I took these photos earlier and they became comatose shortly thereafter. It was the only way to get the to sit still.
It’s been a long day, but everyone is settling in their new home. Pictures are incoming, I just want to get a handful more to choose from before posting anything,
Two and a half hours drive, more time than intended or expected getting to know everyone — cats and breeders —Three hours drive back (rush hour) and a full evening of acclimating. First, alone in the basement. Then doing a switcheroo and acclimating alone in the main level of the rambler.
It is very hard to believe that it will only be a few more days until this house is filled with new floof and chaos. I occasionally wonder at the wisdom. Or lack thereof.
Anyway, money has changed hands and, ready or not, not one but two fairly large kittens with the DNA to grow into even larger cats will be joining the tribe. We just need to do a little drive and back on Friday and suddenly two Norsk skogkatter, Norwegian Forest Cats, will run rampant in the home.
If I have a wee bit of advice to breeders of any type of pet, it is:
There is no such thing as too many photos for the expectant family.
For some weirdos like me, there is no such thing as too much data either — although I have done a very good job of not asking anyone to fulfill my weird data desires/needs (weights, measurements, food types and sources).
We finally got on the radar and received some new pictures of the boys (a bit blurry when they are in motion because of the phone’s camera and lighting quality).
Well these two lads are apparently already ready for the Minnesota winter.
So. Much. Floof.
Grendel is in the fore and Grímnir in the rear.
Apparently, they come looking for cuddles whenever someone is in the room and are curious about the world around them.
When I reached out to the breeder, I had asked several times about food they feed the kittens to avoid that stomach/digestive upset that goes along with switching them over to another food. I have one in mind that ranks high on ingredient quality, but wanted to load up on what they were feeding the boys so I could transition them over a week or so.
Learning point: It turns out that the conventional wisdom has changed with feline diets. Instead of “keep cats and kittens on a small diet rotation”, it turns out that this is no longer the recommendation. They’ve discovered that it can cause food sensitivities and pickiness compared to kittens who are fed a variety of foods; not just brands, but textures and types as well. It teaches the cats, rather than encouraging “finickiness”, to enjoy what they have and they have fewer digestive issues as an added bonus.
Seven years ago, the conventional wisdom was the exact opposite. Minimize variety and texture so they always eat what you give them because there is no benefit with variety. In other words, meatloaf M-Sat and Sunday, too. If you only know meatloaf, you won’t hanker for something else.
So, I’ll take her word (as well as a little research on my part that confirms it) that they should be ready to go with whatever we feed them.
Seems almost sacrilege to think that way after all these years being told otherwise. But I will accept it, seeing as there is science backing it up.
And they are slightly delaying the vaccinations and checkup to 9 weeks instead of 8 weeks, which also makes some sense. A week difference is not a huge difference and it gives their bodies more time to develop to get a better baseline on.
The breeder has invited the family down there for a meet and to meet the boys, but there is just too much going on in the coming two months to break away. Plus, it is a longish drive (2.5 hours each way). I might zip down myself, while the kiddos are on a roadtrip elsewhere, but I haven’t decided for certain if that will happen.
I still have so much to do to prep this place for kittens. I can’t hardly imagine how I will get it all done and still keep on top of the other chores I have ready at my feet.
