She's a Big One

So a lot has happened in the past several months, and I'll do my best to update all the important parts. However, at least for today, we're just going to focus on one of them: Size. Maude has put on a few pounds and her long hair is NOT slimming. When we originally got her, she weighed about 1.5 lbs and was tiny compared to Stella.

Six months later, she's now the big cat of the house.

That's Maude at nine month old. Let me repeat that NINE MONTHS old. She's going to continue growing until she reaches 3 years old. Meg will be able to ride her side-saddle to and from work every day at this rate.

Neglected

Maude is a great trial run of how I will treat my children. Totally obsessive about pictures and updates...until month 3 or so...then my ambition falls away. Mother of the year my friends, mother of the year...

So let's do a desperate recap of the past few months. It can honestly be broken down into 2 points: 1) Maude is no longer a reproductive woman
2) Maude is going to be the size of a wildebeest

It's been a rough week or so because after her surgery Maude couldn't play with Stella b/c we didn't want her to hurt herself or tear her stitches. This means that for a week, we listened to Maude and Stella cry at each other on opposite sides of our bedroom door, reaching their paws under the door to touch. We're waiting for them to sit us down and tell us how they always knew they were different...and we can't wait to support their same-cat love.

Here are some photos to entertain and horrify you at her size.



can you spot the two cats in this picture?
hint: stella is a pirate

Maude, only 4 months old here, loves her Steve pillow from Bob and Jess

sleeping is super hard when you're bite-sized

this is the drug log. it's filled with cat nip.
my cats are crack heads.

someone missed the memo that they're too big to fit there

in no way is maude obsessed with stella, there were literally
just no other surfaces in the house for her to sit on

still dealing with her recent weight gain, maude gets stuck...

how normal cats sleep

Rude

We've already discussed how Maude and Stella need to get a secluded cabin somewhere, but it seems that affection isn't the only thing these two share. Stella's bad habits are of course rubbing off on the little one. We have recently discovered the talent that only Stella had presented before in Maude as well: sticking out their tongue. For a dog it's sort of second nature, for a cat, it's just plain weird. Here's some pics and yes, a video of Maude's ridiculousness. Note the ending where Stella decides Maude's had enough attention and goes in for the clean...

8 Hours Required

So it's been awhile since we've posted, and this can be attributed to Maude's insane growth spurts which are both incredible and frightening at once. I'm pretty sure she alternates between 19 hours of sleep and 5 hours of eating a day. Like her predecessor, Maude sleeps like a normal cat. Or not.
More soon.

Jungle Fever

So it appears that the age old Mother's warning of "if he chases you, he likes you," is true. Just take a look at the seriously uncomfortable napping positions we found the ladies in just this week. It seems their previous fists of fury have turned into paws of passion. Ladies, ladies, get a log cabin and keep it private, maybe knit a few sweaters.

Like Kids in the School Yard

Maude's signature move: ball up an use your back legs to rip the face off of your sister.

Stella's infamous Bear Hug of Doom

The battle for king of the cat tree.

Remember when you were little and your Mom told you that if a boy pinched you, made fun of you, or chased you they really liked you? Well if we're holding true to this little proverb, Maude and Stella are madly, awkardly, and innapropriately in love.

I left last week on a work trip for 4 days. By the time I got back I noticed two things: Maude might be bigger than me now, and she and Stella have developed an afinity for ripping each other's heads off. How sweet. More on Maude's freakish growth spurt in a later post.

When we got Miles and had our first two cat experience we did a lot of reading on how to tell if they were getting along. Apparently as long as they don't hiss or have their ears back, they are play fighting. Well these ladies have brought it to a whole new level. It's a rare day that I don't come home from work, exhausted, opening the door the scene of my larger black cat trying to tear the head off my smaller kitten -- but when I break them up the kitten goes bounding after the big cat like "let's do this pansie."

Until I find blood on the carpet or more than 2-3 white hairballs in Stella's mouth (oh we've found one already) I'm going to let them be and just buy them tiny Nacho Libre masks.

Strings, Chords and Safety

It takes a little while for the personality of a new cat to start to shine through. In fact, we've found it takes about a year for all their quirks and likes/dislikes to fully come to the surface. We've just finished Week 2 of the Maude Experience and like Miles before her, she likes strings, power chords and shoe laces. In fact, this is the only thing holding us back from giving her full run of the house while we are at work during the day.

For some reason, kittens seem to like Apple. Like Miles before her, the MacBook power chords, Apple USB cable and chargers for our iPhones/iPods seem to be her favorite over any other cable. Maybe as kittens, they appreciate Steve Jobs emphasis on mechanical design and product aesthetics. Or maybe kittens racially profile their chew-cable of choice by opting for the pure white Apple chords over a more common black/grey. I wish I knew....