Crazy Cooter: My personal memoirs Chapter Two - Permanent Damage

Cooter's entry -

After a few weeks of settling into my new home, I realized I had the world at my fingertips. It was a remarkable feeling, really, knowing that with a small noise I could bring the whole house running or that the slightest action would bring peals of laughter to the room. I was on stage. They watched my every move for hours. I had found my calling at last.

At first I would waddle from room to room, occasionally going for a short sprint, but as my strength and balance improved, the sprints became longer and soon I was running to each destination. Of course, my agility and stopping capability were not at their height yet, which led to a variety of errors. I ran quite quickly into the sliding glass door, but from then on I stopped and checked before trying to go outside again. I also failed to negotiate corners very well, having to stop and turn before continuing on my way.

But by far my worst injuries were not my own fault. I was a tiny kitten in a house filled with powerful and negligent giants.

One evening I crawled into bed with the giants and cuddled snugly next to the female's shoulder. The next thing I knew, she woke up suddenly, grabbed the corner of the blankets and whipped them away from her, tossing me against the wall in the process. The thud my body made could be heard across the house. I gave a long startled squeak and sat there bewildered. She immediately picked me up, undoubtedly aggravating the serious injuries I already suffered. I'm sure her heart was in the right place, but just to ensure she didn't wake up suddenly anymore, I decided to keep her up as long as possible at night using my claws and teeth to nip at any exposed skin. I must say I enjoyed it immensely.

Just a few days before, I watched the female giant open the silver door of the large box in the kitchen. Curious about what the giants do in there, I crept closer and peered in. My view was quickly gone however, because the light went off as she closed the door. Little did she know, my entire body was still in the way of that door, keeping it from closing entirely. Luckily, my head, crushed from the weight, kept most of the bodily injuries to a minimum by preventing the door from squeezing my tiny little ribs. I gave another panicked and painful squeal and at that moment the door bounced away and closed yet again! Would this torture never end? She came to what I will call my rescue, although I'm not sure it can be called rescue when she caused the situation in the first place. The male giant cradled me in his arms for a few minutes while the white of my eye turned red and the swelling ensued.

It is still unclear whether the damage was permanent - due to my youth, who knows what potential I missed out on.


The next chapter: Bonding with the "Roscoe".

Britt's Birthday Extravanganza

Britt's entry -
I had such a wonderful birthday weekend, and so many people to thank, but most of all Sean! I couldn't ask for a more incredible boyfriend!

On Thursday afternoon I left work a little early (exhausted from being kept up by the kitten all night). When Sean got home he said that I had a surprise waiting for me at work. Apparently the beautiful bouquet of flowers he had delivered arrived just after I was already gone! Whoops.

On Friday he took me out to dinner, but not before a special secret errand he wouldn't explain until we got there...to his old house where another gorgeous bouquet of flowers was waiting on the front porch! His parent's, Teri and Bud, had them delivered special for my birthday! After picking them up we went to Stella Mia, a little Italian restaurant in Country Village where we had an outstanding dinner and an even more outstanding bottle of Cab. *drool*

Sean had given me part of my present a few weeks before - the new tiny little Ipod Shuffle - and followed it up with a Nordstrom gift certificate so I can pick up some new gym clothes. (Mine are getting pretty ratty. The fabric of all the shorts looks like Swiss cheese and the elastic is just barely holdin' on.) What a great birthday day!

On Saturday, we had about 25 people over to our house for beer and pizza. (The house held up surprisingly well for hosting that many people, so it bodes well for future par-tays!) We got a chance to get people together who had heard all about each other but had never met before, and we even had people there we hadn't seen in far too long, so it was really nice! Several people brought me bottles of wine (they apparently know me well), and Sarah, Max, Garrett, Kristina and Annie got me a new purse and matching carry-all bag, which are FAB-ulous.

Later on we crammed as many people into as few cars as possible and went to Robin Hood Lanes for some Moonlight Bowling. For those of you unfamiliar, there are a series of situations in which you can win cash for strikes or picking up spares. We didn't quite make our money back, but Sean made a strong showing and Angie really showed us all up!

On Sunday, after taking a 3.5 hour nap (just like heaven, in case you were wondering), Sean and I headed over to my grandparents house for a family birthday party for my mom and I. Her birthday is the 19th, mine the 17th. Dean really branched out culinary-wise and made shish-kabobs for dinner! Yum.

All in all, a practically perfect birthday weekend thanks to all the wonderful people in my life!

Feeding Time for Cooter

Cooter is transitioning to eating from a bowl! Note that it says "transitioning", not "mastering".

We've been feeding him wet food mixed with rice ceareal and kitten milk replacement with a cough syrup syringe. We started showing him the bowl of food mid-meal since he was licking the food off our fingers, in the hopes he would lick it in the bowl, too.

The good news is that he did start to figure it out.

The bad news is that he puts his whole body into the effort. Literally. He crawls into the bowl, mashes his face against the bottom, snorts it up his nose, cakes it over his eyes - when he is done, there is kitten food from the tips of his ears all the way down his body.

Which means that after he is done eating, he gets a bath. Not his favorite thing, so maybe it will motivate him to be more clean at meal time. : )

Cooter's Feeding Time

Congratulations Damian and Chelsea!!

Sean's entry -

Coming Soon.... In the meantime, we highly recommend that you watch the proposal on YouTube. If only to embarass Damian further.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vEoYr71i98

Damian and Chelsea's wedding

Cooter (Ok, I give in) Update

Britt's entry -

Cooter has settled in nicely with us and is starting a routine that goes something like this:

5:30 a.m.

• Mews at the morning alarm clock. Scratches the side of his box.
• Poops in his litter all by himself (yeah!).
• Britt gets out of bed and takes him out of the box. Cooter is still in mid-poop.
• Britt cleans up poop from a variety of places.
• Britt puts Cooter on Sean's chest, where he crawls around happily, exploring and nibbling along the way.
• Roscoe leaps onto the bed and begins to search for the kitten.
• Roscoe finds kitten and proceeds to lick his butt which makes Cooter pee involuntarily.
• Britt and Sean strip the bed and throw everything in the wash.
• Cooter gets put on the ground and scurries around the house. He occassionally turns on the after-burners and speeds up in order to get somewhere faster. This lttle guy is getting more agile with each day! (For the first few days, when he tried to clean any paw it involved several attempts and several topples.)
• Cooter mews as he realizes he is alone. He hates to be alone.
• Roscoe comes running and licks Cooter's butt again. No pee this time as bladder is empty.
• Cooter attacks Roscoe's face/tail/feet. (He's a vicious predator with teeth the size of grains of salt.)
• We warm up Cooter's food - a mix of rice cereal, Science Diet canned kitten food, and kitten milk replacement.
• We feed Cooter with a cough syrup sryinge. Cooter goes into a practical seizure at the excitement of food. He's now starting off with the syringe, but progressing to a bowl mid-meal.
• We clean Cooter off. There are approximately 4 cc's of food smeared on his head.
• Cooter scurries around the house. Roscoe licks his butt. Cooter attacks Roscoe. (Repeats indefinitely)
• Eventually Roscoe lays down and Cooter tries to suckle on him. Use your imagination for how that works with a male dog. Roscoe patiently allows this.
• As Britt leaves, she puts Cooter in his box with a warm rice-filled sock.
• Cooter falls asleep nearly instantly.

10 a.m.

• Teenage neighbor girl (Ashley) comes over and takes Cooter out of the box.
• Feeding process is repeated.
• Cooter uses litter.
• Ashley takes Cooter over to her house for a series of adventures which includes terrorizing their small dog and grown cat, meeting new people and impressing them with his impossible cuteness. (Repeated throughout the day.)

5 p.m.

• Ashley brings Cooter back as Sean arrives home.
• Cooter gets put on the ground and scurries around the house.
• Cooter scurries around the house. Roscoe licks his butt. Cooter attacks Roscoe's face/tail/feet.
• Feeding process is repeated.
• Cooter uses litter.
• Cooter curls up on Sean's lap/tummy/shoulder or some combination and falls sleep, purring tremendously.
• Cooter gets put on the ground and scurries around the house.
• Roscoe licks Cooter's butt. Cooter pees a little. Cooter attacks Roscoe.
• Cooter mews when he realizes he is alone. Roscoe comes running and licks Cooter's butt again. Cooter attacks Roscoe's face/tail/feet. (Repeats indefinitely)

10 p.m.

• Feeding process is repeated.
• Cooter uses litter.
• More cuddling with Britt and Sean.
• Cooter goes in his box with the warm rice-filled sock and falls asleep promptly.

It's a boy!

Britt's entry -
I was talking to my friend Sarah on Friday afternoon and she mentioned that she had been taking care of a litter of 7 kittens that a stray cat had abandoned in her backyard. The kittens were young, maybe 3 weeks old, and a lot of work, so she finally ended up bringing them to the Everett Animal Shelter.

Sean and I have been talking about bringing another kitten home, one that would be young enough for Roscoe and Jumper to adapt to, so I was excited when I heard that Sarah had ones that needed homes, but I was too late.

Little did I know, when she had gone to collect them, one was missing. Later that day, she heard a small mewing from somewhere around the house, but it took her all afternoon to find it, hiding behind the water heater. She called me to ask if I was serious about wanting one and I said, "Absolutely!"

Oddly, I had brought home some boxes from work the same day, so I had the perfect temporary home all ready to go! It's like it was meant to be - ooooooh.

So now we have a new kitten that needs a name - can you help? Leave us a comment and let us know your preference!! We're going with a Dukes of Hazard theme, so our two choices are Cletus (Britt) and Cooter (Sean). Which name should we go with?

Roscoe has adapted well, even keeping him clean with lots of loving licks, but he plays a little rough, so we can't leave them alone together just yet. Jumper hissed and turned his back, so we still have a little work to do with him!

New Kitten