The kittens are maturing.  When they strut through the house, they carry their tails proudly. Floyd still has clodhopper feet, but his body is nicely muscled and he will grow into it (I hope so, because right now, he’s in a fascinating out-of-proportion teenager stage).  He’s still the confident, outgoing kitty in the group.  He has adopted both Mr. L and me.  I was reading in bed last night, and a fish came flying at my head followed by large orange kitten.  Floyd was playing catch with himself.  He throws the fish and runs to wherever it’s going to land to catch it.  Apparently, this is a sign of a cat with advanced intelligence, and you can see that in his eyes and carriage.  I’ve shown Floyd and Tarzan wrestling, but they also groom each other:

I tend to talk the most about Floyd and Rossie.  Floyd because he’s so darned cute and engaging; Rossie because she perplexes me.  It seems I need to stop trying to catch and hold her.  That may be making the problem worse.  I’ve failed to establish trust with her, and each time I “grab” at her, it doesn’t help the situation.  She wants to be near me, but she isn’t comfortable coming too close yet.

My chair is inches from the corner of that rug, and she lies about three feet from my chair.  Just out of reach.  Close enough but far enough she can make a get away.  She will come sniff my hand about once per day, then she will back away and sit down.  She’s developing into an interesting looking cat.  Do you see the copper stripe down her back and the rich, dark tan square on her right chest area?  Really pretty.  And those eyes. Curious.  Questioning.  Here’s another shot of Floyd and her at the food towers:

Rossie likes cheese.  Yesterday, we had a special moment after I’d shared some cheese with Rossie and some of the other cats.  She took some off my finger.  After we were done cheesing, Rossie was sitting near me — just out of reach again.  Ruby was also in the area, so I stroked Ruby.  Rossie looked interested (I’ve been not trying to catch her for a couple of days now, so she has only been talked to).  I held out a finger, and Rossie came over to sniff.  I resumed stroking Ruby (Ruby was enjoying this).  Rossie stayed close by.  I stuck out my finger again, and Rossie sniffed it and allowed me to rub her ear.  I resumed stroking Ruby.  Eventually, Rossie rubbed against my hand, and I took turns stroking Ruby and Rossie, careful to leave Rossie wanting a little more.  After our session, she’s made it clear that won’t happen just anytime, but Rossie definitely wants human attention, and I think, if I keep ignoring her but being open to her approaching me, we may reach an agreement.

Delta has been sometimes sleeping with us.  She spends more time with Mr. L, but she’s showing definite signs are “sharing” us.  We’ve noticed the kittens that have been raised by both of us, Tarzan and Lady and now Floyd and Delta have a tendency to share the two of us, while Ajax (raised by Mr. L) spends most of his time with Mr. L and Natasha (rescued by me) spends her time with me. Ruby hasn’t shown definite signs of this yet, but I think she’s trending in that direction.  Rossie, if any loyalty can be said to be there, is siding with me for now.  Rossie may be like Natasha and be a one person cat.  Although, Natasha, after seven and a half years with us, just started asking to get on Mr. L’s lap, and she’s letting him pet her all over.  That’s a significant breakthrough with her.

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