Growing that family… Meet Kitt (formerly known as Andrew).

This post continues the “and then” theme from the We bought a house and We Got Married posts. All of these things happened in a matter of weeks. It was crazy.

A week after the wedding (two months ago), I surprised Rebecca with a visit to the Oregon Humane Society, conveniently a mile or so from home. We had been planning to get a friend for Halle for quite a while, but wanted to wait until we were settled somewhere for good. Having just plunked down a mortgage down payment and tying the knot, the time seemed right. Regardless, we had no plans to go home with a fuzzy new friend, but we did, as shelter visits go.

At adoption, he was eight weeks old and around 4lbs. Today, he’s +two months, gained 4lbs, and still looks and acts like a full-on kitten. He’s highly social and is one of those cats that enjoys laying on chests, which is awesome. He’s a bit skittish, but I think/hope that’s just being a crazy kitten.

The biggest adjustment has likely been for Halle. It took a solid month before she was even able to comfortably be in the same room as him. I’m kind of glad it took me so long to write this because I can now share that they lay down together, clean one another, and she puts up with his playing (to an extent). She needed company as she had become a rather needy cat. I think she got that and then some. In hindsight, getting her a friend a few years earlier may have been wise; at six years old she’s no spring chicken and can’t quite keep up with him.

Behaviorwise, he’s been pretty good. No potty messes, but he did have a smelly butt for a few weeks. I think that may be a thing for kittens? After a few butt wipings he seems to have figured out the hygiene bit. He does like to chew on paper so Christmas cards ands book covers are all a mess. Worst of all, he likes dirt. We have a lot of house plants. Following weeks of cleaning up soil every morning, we’ve found a mixture of aluminum foil, cayenne pepper, and citrus peels to be effective. He’s also broken the single Christmas ornament we dressed the “tree” with, knocked a plant (RIP its pot) off the mantle, and in time will surely wreck so much more. We affectionally call him “little shit.”