It’s kitten season.
A few weeks ago, we adopted a kitten. One of Diane’s co-workers had taken in a neighborhood stray, only to learn later that the cat was pregnant. In April, she had three beautiful black and white tuxedo kittens. After seeing a photo posted online, we agreed to adopt one. It has been a few years since we had a kitten in the house, so it was a nice opportunity.
Over the years, we have adopted several rescue cats, mostly adults. At one point, we had three elderly cats, aged 20, 18, and 17. As these members of our family passed on, we adopted a 1-year-old and a 3-month-old kitten. Our newest addition was 8 weeks old when he joined our family.
The first thing I noticed when Diane brought him home was just how small this kitten was. He could fit into my hand and barely weighed 2 pounds. Over the past three weeks, he has gained almost another pound and is starting to grow longer. He still does not meow; he squeaks. He sounds more like a toy mouse than a cat. As a kitten, he is very curious and full of never-ending energy.
Our other cats, now ages 5 and 6, are not always happy with the added attention. He tends to sneak-attack both cats by jumping on them whenever they are not looking. This ends in a wrestling match, which only the kitten seems to enjoy. We know the battle is over when we hear the squeaking.
The toughest part of adopting a kitten is agreeing on a name. The name is very important, as most house cats can live for 20 years. The name must be a good one and must fit the kitten’s personality. Our oldest cat, Winston, was named after Winston Churchill, and Tyrone was named after the town in which he was discovered. Choosing the right name for our newest family member was very exhausting.
I was informed immediately and very clearly by Diane that I could not name him after Star Wars characters. So much for Vader, Solo, Yoda, or Lando. I almost got away with Ben, which was a name used by Obi Wan Kenobi, but it didn’t make the cut. We didn’t want people to call him Benji. The next step was to look at other historical or musical figures; most of these were too long. We thought about Ringo, Elton, Freddie, Bonham, and the like, but this was not to be. We ended up deciding to officially name him Max.
Depending on how he is behaving, Max has already turned into Maximilian, Maxwell, Mad Max, Maximo, and Maximus. But whatever he is called, he is a fun addition to the family.
Bernard A. Oravec
Publisher
boravec@barashmedia.com
