When Xena came into our household in February, I really didn't have my head wrapped around the realities of having a kitten. Three months later, the crazy kitten behavior continues and I find myself poised to make an extremely counterintuitive decision.
Xena loves to play. She has lost almost all of her many cat toys through over-vigorous batting and she now resorts to making toys for herself out of anything she can find. Her resourcefulness extends to my hair rubber bands, bottle caps, pieces of sheetrock that she finds in the basement, and, lately, a seemingly endless supply of packing peanuts from an unknown source. She also takes great joy in jumping up onto any available surface and knocking things to the floor.
This morning I awoke to find a half-dozen philodendron leaves separated from their vines and strewn all over the living room. No wonder she throws up so often.
Velcro is no help at all and who can blame her? She's an elderly 15 years old and was recently treated for cancer. I'm sure she'd like nothing better than to spend her remaining years curled peacefully into a ball, preferably on someone's lap. Instead, she gets attacked by a crazy-eyed warrior princess a thousand times a day. The only thing she ever says anymore is, "Grrrr...."
I've talked through this problem with a lot of cat people (not Demetri Martin's idea of cat people - just people who like cats) and they all say the same thing, "Oh, you should always get two kittens at once!"
I didn't actually choose to get a kitten (or Xena specifically), so that wasn't in the cards at the time. I thought of it before we had her spayed, but I was worried that the two cats would just gang up on Velcro. The cat people say no - that they'd just play together and let Velcro enjoy her retirement.
Even with that advice, I've been on the fence. For one thing, both Velcro and Xena are scrupulous users of the cat boxes. What if I ended up with another upstairs pee-er? Then there's the issue of another cat's worth of vet bills.
Today my husband called me and said, "I think I know why Xena's so destructive: she doesn't have anyone to play with."
Okay, I get the hint. On my agenda for this evening is a trip to the local shelter to meet their kitties and see if I can find another young 'un who loves to play. I'm not rushing into actually bringing one home, but I think it's clear that Xena needs a playmate. What am I getting myself into?!?
I totally, wholeheartedly agree that you should get another kitten. To put it gently - Velcro will not be around forever. It would be nice for Xena to already have a companion.
Posted by: cagey | May 18, 2007 at 06:46 PM
You really need to get TWO kittens. You know, one for a backup playmate.
Posted by: Karl | May 20, 2007 at 10:56 AM