From commentor Anna Maria:
I’ve already written in detail about my beautiful and vicious Ali.
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A few mornings ago I was puttering around getting ready for work when I hear Ali’s loud cobra-like hissssssssss coupled with a pitiful wailing sound. I run to the bedroom expecting some kind of disaster and I find Ali sitting in the window fuming and on the other side is a little kitten obviously terrified and crying as if to say “please let me in!”. Did I mention my apartment is on the fifth floor and the outside window ledge is about 3-4 inches width? No idea how this little guy got there. My best guess is he crawled up or down the fire escape, which was outside the adjacent window, and then crossed over to the next window.
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So I shoo Ali away and let the poor kitten in. No collar, although he appeared to be clean and well-fed. With no time to figure out where the hell he came from and after a quick check of his ears and for fleas, I set him up with some food and a cat litter pan and locked him in the bedroom to protect him from the wrath of Ali. Ali is at least 3x his size and she was fur-i-ous, pacing all over the rest of the apartment in a palpable state of agita, tail whipping back and forth so hard it could have snapped right off.
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After arriving home that evening I brought him around to some neighbors to see if anyone recognized him. No such luck. I looked out for word or sign of a missing kitten, nothing. Frankly I had no interest in pursuing that search because anyone who’d let a little fearless kitten out with no collar in a very busy NYC neighborhood frankly isn’t worth the effort.
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I got him to the vet pretty quickly. No microchip and a broken tail tip. All tests came back negative. Turns out he’s a very healthy little guy and rather than being a tiny 9ish month old as I’d first guessed he in fact is a HUGE 4 month old! He’s going to be a very big boy and is already scheduled for neutering.
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He’s a cute and very active little guy. He eats like an absolute pig and wants to play constantly. So much so that I’ve named him Pita (as in Pain In The Ass–the vet liked it so much she’s stealing the name for her next pet). Unfortunately I can’t keep him. My loyalty is to Ali and I can’t live with her constant state of agita or the neverending fear I will come upon a bloody mangled mass of white and gray fur at Ali’s feet while she looks up at me with a look of pure smug satisfaction.
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Good news though, some close friends whose own cat just passed away may be taking him. I will have to keep him a couple more months while they do some international traveling. And if that doesn’t work out I’m committed to keeping him until I find him a good home. Which means he and Ali remain totally separated when I’m not home and under careful supervision when I am. I think it will be fine, although I did have a pretty disgusting experience this morning. Pita likes to climb on my back as I’m sleeping and gnaw on my shirt. I don’t mind so much since I clipped his nails. But this morning as I lay half-awake he walked up and down my bare leg, gnawing away. Suddenly I felt some moisture and I bolted wide awake to the horror of realizing HE SPRAYED ME! The little shit marked ME as his territory!
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So it appears he may rival Ali not only in size, but attitude.
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Above photo: Pita in all his glory. Below: Ali staring him down from atop her favorite perch, ready to kill.
Linda Featheringill
Lovely baby!
A word: If Pita is spraying, fix him NOW. Lie about his age if you have to but get him fixed.
And have fun in the meantime.
MikeJ
That cat looks like an emoticon.
^_^
grr. Stupid WP. Caret underscore caret.
stuckinred
Maybe Cole will take the kitty?
harlana
Precious lil kitty! I know only too well what it is like to have one cat hating her “siblings” and trying always to dominate and threaten them off whatever spot she considered to be hers (it was always the spot they were lying on) and attacking when necessary – unfortunately, this propensity towards bitchiness and aggression did not develop until she grew up and by then, for me, it was too late. I lived 17 years like that, it was just awful.
JPL
I love these stories and I’m sure that pita will find a happy home and he will leave his mark. lol
jayjaybear
Trading 3x his size for 10x his size…Tunchy! Snacktime!
dr. bloor
Tunch can always use more minions.
jayjaybear
Tunch doesn’t have minions. He just has food he hasn’t eaten yet.
Bulworth
Great job, Anna Marie for taking in this sweetie. May Ali relax and some day enjoy her new friend.
AAA Bonds
rollingstone.com/politics/news/michele-bachmanns-holy-war-20110622
Steph
Have you ever tried pheromone plugs? It might help mitigate the hostilities.
AAA Bonds
citypages.com/2006-10-04/news/the-chosen-one/
Athenae
Do we have Tunch Facts yet? Like Chuck Norris Facts, only not douchey?
A.
WereBear
Ah, a double rescue; saving his life AND finding him a home.
Sometimes, it takes two people.
Sounds like he was scheduled for neutering not a moment too soon; where do these happy healthy kittens come from? Do they drop out of the sky, targeting soft hearted cat fanciers?
Got more than one that way.
mohagan
Several years ago we also got a Papasan chair and foot stool. Got rid of the chair (not as comfortable long-term as it looked), but the foot stool stayed. As with Ali, it instantly became a favorite piece of kitty real estate in our house (we have five), and as with your house, the cushion is covered with a towel in a futile attempt to control the cat hair. BTW, I second the suggestion to try a Feliway pheromone diffuser. We were having pee wars and lots of tension between 3 of the cats (2 of them hated one of the others) and the diffuser has helped A LOT. Not that they’ve turned into best friends, but mutual toleration is a big improvement.
ThresherK
My wife’s cat, Dexter (full name much fancier if you know your old movies) much resembles Ali, and he is also beautiful and vicious. He can turn in a moment’s notice when something annoys him, in the periphery of four feet, but has not yet developed the ability to wish us into the cornfield.
(Disclosure: My cat is much better behaved. And in the interest of peacekeeping and wife/her cat happiness, I do all the pill-giving and nail-clipping.)
debg
I’ve put cats together in numerous configurations, and sometimes the ones who react worst at first turn out to be the best mommies/pals. You know the situation, and the cats’ personalities, far better than I could, though.
Good luck to all of you! What a great job you’ve done with Pita, and he’s quite the looker!
jayjaybear
Good naming. If Cary Grant would be any animal, I’d imagine it would be a very elegant cat.
pukebot
looks like son of ceiling cat. good work anna maria. i’d give you a hug but i’d break your fucking ribs, because that’s how i feel about cat rescuers.