Calliope-Wiggle Tummy

After her death defying leap from a second story window, scaring me half to death, eating a can of tuna plus almost a whole big can of catfood, Calliope is snoozing. No wild party going on tonight, just a few wiggles. Calliope is calm, I am not.  I want those kittens to be born!

The Princess is getting tired of playing second fiddle to our house guest. She remains sweet to Calliope, but after the stressful fuss today she made a point of insinuating herself between us. It’s her job, she reminded me, to oversee my welfare. Such a fuss over a silly little kitten.

She has no idea what it’s going to be like when the babies arrive. I haven’t had kittens for over a year. I’ve never had a pregnant cat since she was born. Still, she knows to be kind.

She leans full length against my body and presses her cheek next to mine. She reminds  me just how special she is and how much she loves me.

Each cat has it’s own time with me during the day. Usually at least three cats are within reach, if not actually on me or touching me. I think they have an invisible schedule up somewhere.

 

 

Calliope: An itty-bitty kitty

My night was surprisingly silent. There were no screams of outrage or for help. So far this is the least traumatic introduction of a new cat ever!

Calliope opted to stay downstairs in the living room with the senior ladies. Jazz, who normally hates other cats until she gets to know them, is tolerating little Calliope without the least growl. The little cat wanders between the ladies at will, then back up to her perch on the back of the chair.

Majyk stalks down the stairs, sees Calliope gazing out the window and sneaks up for a quick sniff. I tense. Calliope turns and gives him a regal stare. Seeing them together I realize again just how small this little cat is, she is half his size. Instead of his usual cocky attitude, Majyk slinks back down to the carpet where he watches this new, fascinating feline. Since he is the baby of the family, he hasn’t had another cat invade his space here before.

Callie decides to explore now I am here to back her up. She moves carefully, her bulging tummy throws off her balance. Majyk slinks behind her. He stops two feet away and stretches nonchalantly. In cat speak, he’s telling both her and me that he isn’t a threat. All ears stay up, no warning growls split the air. Is he behaving better because she is preggers, and male cats are fully aware just how chancy it is to mess with a mommy cat? (Human men, take note!)

I go upstairs and she follows. She checks out the comfy bed, sees Willetta curled smugly in a patch of sun and Major Tom in a pile of clean laundry. Then she goes to the studio door and asks to be let in. What a smart girl!

We commune for awhile, she checking out every corner to see if anything has changed. She still doesn’t want to eat, which worries me. She is relaxed and sleepy, this is her safe place obviously. As I pull the door shut behind me, Majyk is perched on the bannister, he can’t stand the mystery!

Because all the cats have had upset tummies, I cut them some fresh cat grass. Majyk barely lets me back in the house before he is chomping away. I always have to schedule a few minutes of grass eating before he goes on the road with me.

Calliope has the same reaction to grass that I have about crab louie. Luckily for her, cat grass is much easier to come by. Mmmmn, crab louis….

Jazzy who has been laying in a dejected heap since yesterday perked up so much as to be kittenish. After she finishes noshing, she pats playfully at the remaining blades. There will be catnip this afternoon.

Oh the suspense!

Calliope gets some down time when she is in the main part of the house with me while the others are eating and sleeping. She’s feeling more at home every day. Look at that big tummy. I can just start to feel the kittens move.

In spite of having been with me for 16 days and was being fed before that, she is still much too thin. I feed her throughout the day so she can keep it all down, but I can still feel all of her bones. Her little hip bones feel like they are barely covered with skin. Each day I am more aware that if she hadn’t been rescued, she would probably have died. Even being able to eat as much as she wants, it seems all that food is going straight to her kittens. How sad it would be if this loving sweet spirit had been left to her fate.

And on the flip side:

Never shy about voicing his opinion, Majyk thinks he looks amazing on my new fabric.

I love having multiple cats because watching them interact is fascinating. Majyk who is a rough and ready bratty little brother with the other cats is totally bemused by Calliope. He follows her around with the oddest expression on his face. He never tries to rough house with her like he does with Willetta. Calliope has the same regal stare as my Maine Coon mix . He did try and take a teasing swipe at her, she just sat down and gave him The Look. He tried to look nonchalant as he swaggered away, but you could see she had gotten her point across. Earlier when The Princess got too close to her food bowl, she put up a paw and very calmly pushed Princess away. No hissing, no growling. Princess bowed to her mamahood and withdrew.

Calliope looks like the love child of Major Tom and The Princess.

The Princess will see you  now.

Calliope: Interspecies Understanding

I stayed up way too late last night. When I finally thought I could sleep, I went to do a final check on Calliope and say goodnight.

There were puddles of sick all over and she hadn’t finished her food. She greeted me, but obviously was still suffering. I soothed her and let her know she was ok and not in trouble. When she seemed better, I started to leave the room to get her a clean blanket. This little cat, who cheerfully rode in the car and let the vet manhandle her let out a quiet wail of misery. It was absolutely heartbreaking..

How awful it must be to still be a kitten and have a tummy full of babies yourself. In cat years, she’s just a teenager. I can’t tell her she will be alright, that she will have a home with me as long as she needs it. I can’t explain all the changes her body is going through or that I’m trying to introduce her to my cats so she can have the run of the house most days, that she isn’t being punished by keeping her in one room.

I’m not sure what this thing is, but I’m trying to please you!

So there I was, flat on the floor, instead of being in my comfy bed, talking to an anxious little cat. She doesn’t know the words of course, but she understands the tone and the love I have for her.  After only a few days, we are bonded, she looks to me for help. Finally she felt better and even ate a few bites of food. I already know she is going to be one of those cats who will want me to hold her paw when it’s time to give birth.

I put Major in with her for today. She is very relaxed with him in the room, even though they don’t make contact. Major is second in command of the cat kingdom here, so not only will he give her love, he can protect her a bit from Majyk’s more boisterous advances. She even rolled over so I could tickle her round little tummy. She played for the first time today. Progress!

Update: YES! When I checked on the kitties a few minutes ago, Calliope was lounging on my desk instead of hiding in the window sill, while Major was curled up on the chair. Callie happily rolled over for tummy tickles. Major hopped down to give me my chair. (Yes, he’s a gentleman) I put a feather on a wire for Calliope to play with, Major, who is making up for  his traumatic kittenhood, forgot himself enough to jump up on the table right next to Callie. She just rolled over so her tummy wasn’t showing, but didn’t move away. She seems more relaxed with him in there. Girls can’t resist that sweet face and those baby blue eyes. Willetta inherited her charm from him. He’s a sweet talker too, makes the same prrrt, rrrrr sounds like a mommy cat talking to her kittens. He rarely actually meows. It’s so darn cute!

 

The Story of Calliope

Calliope’s On-Line Poster

I first saw Calliope as she was being passed hand to hand by the neighbor’s children. She was so sweet and patient with all that handling, I had to go meet her myself. She looked to be “teenaged”, a bit gangly and still very kittenish. We played hide and go seek/tag among the trees, and I fell in love.

She was such a gentle spirit, I wanted to make sure she had a home She was so thin and had bare patches down to the skin. Sadly, while everyone liked her, no one claimed her. Cats can get pregnant at four months and she was at least six months, probably older. I fed her whenever I saw her and she was always happy to meet me with purrs and rrrrows. I worried about her, because the kids in my apartment complex are unsupervised and some are either too young or too disturbed to be allowed access to an animal. I began asking everyone I saw her with if they knew who owned her.

No one did. Then, she disappeared. I hoped she had been adopted, but judging by the local tom’s behavior, I thought it was more likely she had been injured and maybe even died. Still, I kept an eye out for her and one day there she was, older, and obviously pregnant . I managed to track her down to the lady who was feeding her. She does dog rescue, I do cat rescue. The little cat was much more wary about being handled (smart of her!) but looked healthy if still thin.

I went into rescue mode. First, I put my cat cage outside, and got it ready for her to stay in until I could get a health check, with five of my own kitties, that’s always my first move. I popped in a nice warm cardboard box shelter with a blanket, litterbox, big bowl of fresh water and all the dry food she could eat. She seemed to immediately know she was being rescued, she checked out her new home and settled down happily, purring like mad and uttering little chirps of happiness. Because she is a “talker”, I named her Calliope. She knew that was her name within 24 hours.

Luckily the weather was good, because it was a long Memorial Day weekend. I foster through Salem Friends of Felines, a fantastic no kill shelter. I was hoping they would let me foster her until she was adoptable. They are extremely good at screening adoptive new cat parents and would place her and her kittens in good homes. I was already in love with Calliope, it’s always hard to give up foster cats, some are more difficult than others and I already had a bond with this small multicolored cat.

The next morning I went out first thing to check on her. To my surprise there was the huge black tom laying companionably next to the cage. I’ve never seen him up close, he usually is a black blur as soon as he sees me. He’s HUGE, with tattered ears and missing patches of fur over his many scars. Although he jumped and ran when he saw me, this time he didn’t go far. Calliope greeted me as an old friend. As I filled her food dish, the tom looked interested. I dubbed him Tough Guy (TG for short) and tossed him some kibble. She must have communicated with him because he came up and loved on me! Tough Guy has a soft spot! He looks so vicious, but when he is not competing for a female, he is up for  a cuddle. Calliope had already brought me a new friend. She preened like a teenage girl getting ready for the prom! Her fur may be a bit ragged still, but it was spotlessly clean and soft as a cloud.

Finally I got her into Friends of Felines and luckily she was healthy. She’s between 7 to 10 months old, about halfway through her pregnancy at a guess. I installed her in my studio so I could introduce her to my five brats slowly. I’m being extra careful with her as she is so pregnant. Majyk in particular plays too rough.

Since Willetta isn’t aggressive, she was the first cat I introduced. The girls growled and hissed at each other as Willetta cruised the room, looking for stray kibble. Things were going well so I left them alone. They didn’t become instant friends but there wasn’t any fighting either. Calliope has gotten much more defensive since she is carrying kittens, before she would play with any friendly cat. I put Willetta back in with her today and again they hissed if they got too close, but that was all.

I’ll try her next with Major Tom. For having been a tomcat most of his life, he is super sweet and loves kittens. Calliope is still a kitten herself, if she will accept him he will love her and help raise the kittens. Since she wasn’t worried about Tough Guy, who is probably the father of some her kittens, I’m hoping her hormones won’t tell her Major is dangerous. She could use a little extra loving.