KITTENS! Skittles and Francie (edit: added a photo)

[Bertha Venation]

Last week when trapping ferals for TNR, we managed to get two kittens. We intend to socialize them and find someone to adopt them. (We are not -- I repeat: NOT -- keeping them. We already have six, and six is too many.)

Last night they played with one of us for the first time, and I thought I would DIE from their cuteness. The one we named Skittles -- the one that kicked my ass last week -- was the first to jump up onto the bed with me, lured by the feather toy. It took her a few minutes to warm up, but she finally lost her inhibitions and was soon romping across my legs as she played with the feathers. She grabbed a strap on one of the night splints I wear on my feet, and yanked on it with this tiny little "GRR!" in her throat. AAAAAAHHHHHHH! SO CUTE!! She approached my wiggling fingers with caution, then inched forward and FWAP! smacked a finger then jumped away. That was what finally got me laughing so hard that she got scared and jumped down.

But she was back again within seconds. At one point she had her back to me and sat on my hand. She is soooo soft, and I wanted so badly to pet her, but I stayed still. I knew petting her would freak her.

After a while, her sister's curiosity overtook her fear and she got onto the bed, too. She is quite different from Skittles. I've named her Francie, after a very serious, contemplative child, the main character in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. While both cats are tabbies, Skittles has unique tortoiseshell markings mixed in with the stripes -- including an orange spot on her nose and one on two paws -- and her undercoat is white or gray. Francie is very dark, with black and brown stripes and a dark undercoat. Francie's dark face gazed at me while she just sat, Sphinx-like, on the bed for several minutes. I could see her little nose working overtime. Finally she got up, stretched, and walked over to the feathers. She grabbed them and tried to kill the bird. She didn't play with half the energy of her sister, but she is much more curious. She sniffed my fingers several times, and played with them, too.

I can't wait to get home tonight and play with these KITTENS!!