Our fuzzy babies

First, meet Kinzie...


This is my precious baby who will be 14 this Spring. I got her about 13 years ago, right after Christmas. I went to a pet store to get a kitten and started thinking I should get an older cat from the Humane Society. One of the girls working there told me that someone was at the register trying to give her cat back to them but she was too old. I immediately fell in love with the fluffy little kitty that was about 6-8 months old. The girl who gave her up said that her boyfriend got her a kitten for Christmas and her mom wouldn't let her have both cats. So (unbelievably) she decided to give up the older cat, whom she called Precious. As precious as that little cat was I had to pick a name I could live with. I call her Kinzie, but she seems to prefer Kinzu. :)


Kinzie never did well with other cats and about 8 years ago I promised her that she would be an only cat from then on. (This may have been the only thing that kept me from having 10 cats by now.) Then in the summer of 2007 I started dating a wonderful man who had two little kittens. I knew that if things worked out with him Kinzie would have some adjusting to do. After Jason proposed I started reading about how to introduce young cats to an old kitty. We kept Jason's babies (who were about a year old at the time) upstairs and after several weeks finally let the cats all meet. Kinzie became the head cat and has kept the other two in line ever since. She's a bit on the grumpy side when they're around, but honestly I think she's happier with the company.

When Jason first got the two kittens he was told they were girls. I helped him with names - Lilly and Daisy. Several months later when Jason took them to the vet to get them fixed he texted me: need to find new names - they're both boys. So Lilly became Lenny and Daisy became Davey. (Our friend Becca remembers their names by their colors - lighter Lenny, darker Davey.)


Lenny tried to challenge Kinzie when they first met and she put him in his place every time. To this day he stays far away from her and he's jumpy when she's around. Occasionally he'll come up and sniff her but she usually tries to swipe at him and he jumps and runs away. He's whooped now, but she won't give him another chance to challenge her.



Davey is very different - he's a lover not a fighter. He tries to rub on Kinzie and she usually tries to bite him or smack him. He just lays down and takes it, usually purring the whole time. She might bite him but she usually ends up licking him a few times afterwards. She doesn't seem to mind having him around but she doesn't usually approach him.



Recently Davey has tried to snuggle up to Kinzie while she's sleeping. We put out a couple blankets for the kitties to sleep on and a box for Kinzie to sleep in. One day he climbed in the box with Kinzie. Jason and I waited for the abuse to start but she just glared at him and then went back to sleep. This happened a few more times until Davey got too brave and actually pushed Kinzie out of the box. I've gotten another box and placed it beside Kinzie's box so that Davey has room to sleep next to Kinzie. I have to share pictures of the two of them in the box together. :)




The boys are now almost 3 years old and they've calmed down a lot. They're not scratching as much as they used to (I keep their claws clipped). They usually don't jump up on the furniture anymore, resulting in a lot less broken items. Davey chews up my hair bands if he can find them - and he's been known to dig through my purse and work bag to find them. Lenny wakes me up too early every morning hoping for treats. But the boys are now my babies as much as Kinzie is and I just love them to pieces.