Thoughts

Meet Trixie and Mitzi

I’ve said for some time that we have two kittens and a tomcat (actually, it’s three kittens and a tomcat now), but I’ve never really introduced them to you. So here are Mitzi and Trixie, our first kittens, as they were the night we brought them home, in late June, 2009.

They might look tame and playful here, but they were pretty much feral. They were born to a half-domesticated cat that had made its home in the barn of an old stove-maker in our town. The poor man got his arms and chest scratched pretty badly by the kittens and their mom when he pulled them out of the barn for us.

We’d seen the mother before she’d given birth, and she was adorable, so we begged him to give us two of the kittens when they were ready to be weaned. He was more than glad to do so — he didn’t want a colony of stray cats in his yard.

Here they are the second day, when we put them outside, in the sunlight. They would hiss at us whenever we got near, so it took a bit for us to gain their trust.

Trixie is the one on the left, and Mitzi is the one on the right. Mitzi is the one that looks like her mother, and the resemblance is even more striking now that she’s grown up and is also pregnant. I’ll show you those photos in a later post…

Here’s Trixie again.

Doesn’t she look like she’s laughing in this photo?

Here’s Mitzi.

It’s funny, she used to be the tiny one when she was small. Trixie was the bigger one. It’s the other way around now. Mitzi is the larger and more mature now that they’re grown.

I think they’re coming up on a year since their birth. I don’t know the exact date. The stove-maker says their mom gave birth somewhere else, then brought them, one by one, into his barn, then kept moving them around in there to make sure no one found them. But I think they were about 1 ½ months when we got them. They looked to be about that size.

It took a while until they were comfortable enough with us to let us clean them (I’m talking about the stuff underneath their eyes and the nose business…) Thankfully, that phase didn’t last long, and they soon began to groom themselves beautifully.

Trixie was the one who groomed herself better from the start, so naturally, she was more in demand as my “model”.

The way the light falls on her eye here really brings out the feline in her.

Here they are playing together. That’s a big reason why we wanted two kittens, particularly two sisters. They wouldn’t be lonely.

Mitzi and Trixie are big now, since they’re about 1 year old. I have a lot of catching up to do as I post photos of them as they grew up. What can I say, I’ve been caught up in a number of other projects… I plan to post more photos and videos of them and of our very cool tomcat, Felix, about every Sunday. It’ll be my Cat Day. 🙂 If you’re into cats, tune in!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Standard

13 thoughts on “Meet Trixie and Mitzi”

  1. Pingback: Meet Mushu | Raoul Pop

  2. Pingback: Mitzi and Trixie explore the yard | Raoul Pop

  3. Pingback: Two kittens on a stool | Raoul Pop

  4. Pingback: Trixie comforts Mitzi | Raoul Pop

  5. Pingback: Six new kittens born this past week! | Raoul Pop

  6. Interesting, so the Vet didn’t say why it was better…just that it was better?

    Yes, in the U.S. there are millions of dogs and cats that get killed every year because there is no space in the shelters. So, now when you get a pet from the pound thay automatically get spayed or nuetered (sp?). In addition to all the poor strays without homes.

    But it sounds like you don’t have those problems of homeless dogs or cats in Romanis then? any tips for those of us in the states because we have a big problem with unwanted pets?

    Ivonne

    Like

    • Stray dogs are a problem in Romania. Stray cats aren’t. Cats always seem to find a home here, people are more welcoming and loving that way. They even feed stray dogs. Cats without a home will usually wonder around until they find a home they like, then stay there. The people, once they see the cat is sticking around, will start to feed it, and that’s that — the cat has found its home.

      Like

    • That’s what our vet said… I know that in the States, they spay them even at 3-4 months, but in Romania, where live these days, the vets advised us to let them have their first litter, then spay them.

      Like

    • We didn’t want to spay them until they had their first litter, it’s better for them that way. Besides, we were hoping they would mate with our tomcat, but he was too young when they came into heat. So it looks like unless we want to risk another litter, we’ll have to spay them. He still has a few months to grow before he’s ready to mate. At any rate, we’ll have to wait about 2 months or so before we can spay them, until the kittens are weaned.

      Like

    • Would you believe it, I’m so behind in my processing queue that I’m just getting to the summer of 2007? I had to jump ahead to post the kitten pictures, because Trixie just gave birth today, and I wanted to do something to celebrate her coming of age.

      Like

Comments are closed.