Hello All, So Cheeto is settling nicely at DD's and doing a wonderful job of being a kitten :-). When Raechel saw him, I told her that **HE** was her special Christmas gift and she was thrilled. DD told me that a bit later, she said that she was going to very sad when GrandMother went home and took Cheeto with her! DD said that when she told Raechel that Cheeto was HER cat and would be living with them forever, the little one started to cry because she was so surprised. She has been very diligent in feeding him and cleaning out the cat box, too! Now, let's not forget that there is a dog to be introduced to Cheeto. He had gotten a look at Aspen (the GranDOGhter) and sat on our bed, got a puffy tail and hissed a bit. I went into the Family Room with him and sat next to DD. Aspen came and sat on the other side of DD and Cheeto just rumbled a bit. Aspen walked off and a bit later, DD asked if she could hold Cheeto. Unfortunately, while DD was holding Cheeto, she wondered where Aspen was and called for the dog. WRONG THING TO DO!!!!!!! Aspen came bounding in to the Family Room and Cheeto went ballistic! Not being familiar with DD yet, he panicked and tried to get away from her, scratching her on the chest badly. I jumped up and took him from her, thinking he might calm down a bit if I had him. NO WAY JOSE'!!! He ended up scratching me on both hands, both forearms and biting my thumb before attaching himself to my HEAD! I kid you not -- LOLOL! You should have seen me trotting down the hallway to our bedroom with a wriggling, hissing, panicked nine pound lump of kitten attached to my head with all four appendages! I got Cheeto off my head and once he was on my bed -- all puffed up and looking like a Persian -- he gave me such a look saying he was sorry. I told him he was VERY naughty for trying to scalp his GrandMother and he turned his back to me and showed me his "nether regions"!!! By this time, DD is cleaning up the trail of blood I have left down the hallway and then gets out the first aid supplies. I cleaned and disinfected her chest wound and she did the same for my arms. The problem was my head. You have to be very careful with cat bites and scratches because of the germs from the cat litter they always have their feet and hands in. Also, their saliva can be very germy due to all the cleaning of those "nether regions" that they do! Anywhoooo -- DD has a few packaged alcohol wipes which she uses on the bloody in my head. She then sprayed my owies with spray disinfectant and I was "good to go". Problem now is that I had planned on washing my hair that afternoon before going to get out family photos taken with the SMDGD. Obviously, that didn't happen. I decided to wait until the HUGE scabs on my head dried out and started to come off of their own accord. Unfortunately, that would have taken too long so I waited 3 or 4 day for everything to heal fairly well and then washed my hair. It's a good thing I have long hair and wear it pulled back from my face in a ponytail or a bun -- LOLOL! Once I washed my hair, I discovered that I had about EIGHT huge gouges on my scalp. I'm still waiting for the longest one (DH says it's about 1 1/2" long) to quit hurting. I must brush my hair very carefully so that I don't pull the scabs off!!!!! Once all of that hullabaloo was finished, Cheeto settled in quite nicely. He stole only two ornaments off the tree. DD made sure to put unimportant, plastic ones down in cat range. He keeps stealing R's socks and small toys too :-). He had several hissing & chasing sessions with poor Aspen who thinks they are playing. DD told me on the phone tonight that they sniffed each other's butt this evening with no problems at all so THAT is a big deal. A few months from now they will be bosom buddies, I am sure. While DH and I were in Las Vegas, DD told me that she learned that Cheeto likes gingerbread :-))))). Seems she thought he wouldn't be interested so she put the gingerbread men cookies on a plate in the middle of the table wrapped in plastic wrap. The next morning, she found the plastic wrap on the floor and each and every gingerbread man (I think there were 7 or 8) was laying on the plate with NO HEADS :-))). The little brat cat -- the Kitten from Hell -- had eaten all the heads off -- LOLOL! They couldn't blame Aspen because she spends the night in her kennel. Cheeto has also take to climbing onto Steven's dresser and stealing the cork stopper out of the big jar he keeps loose change in. Every time Steven puts that stopper back, it ends up in the middle of the hallway within a few hours. I keep telling them that ***everything*** is a toy to this cat so if they don't want him taking it, they had better make sure it's too heavy for him to pick up in his mouth or it's shut away in a drawer someplace. Fortunately, there have been NO litter box accidents. Unfortunately, Cheeto still thinks it's a place to play and he has litter scattered all over the floor. Of course, it's much easier to pick up scattered litter than it is to pick up what he leaves IN the litter so DD isn't complaining too much. The best part is the bond that is already forming between Cheeto and Raechel. She was ecstatic when he let her pick him up and carry him around on the very first day :-). He sleeps with her at night and attacks her hands and feet when they move under the covers :-). She thinks this is wonderful until it happens in the middle of the night -- LOLOL! DD said that she came into their room several nights in a row saying that Cheeto needed to go sleep somewhere else because he was purring too loudly and keeping her awake or attacking her feet and waking her up :-). I will admit I miss the sweet parts but not the naughty parts. Having a kitty to come purr in your ear when you sleep at night is wonderful. Having that same kitty attack your feet every time you turn over in bed at night is NOT fun :-). All in all, I'm quite glad to have him settling in so well at DD's. There is absolutely NO WAY that the SMDGD would ever allow DD to get rid of Cheeto now. He is HER cat -- as she loudly proclaims to everyone within hearing range -- and she vows to take care of him and teach him, etc. as best she can. Seeing the look on her face when she realized that Cheeto was HER kitten made all of the misery of the last five months worth it -- as I was sure it would be. Having Cheeto be attached to Steven is icing on the cake. Steven says that every time he sits in his recliner, Cheeto is right there waiting for him to put his feet up and get a blanket. Before Steven is even settled, Cheeto is up in his lap, "circling his wagons", purring light a buzz saw and settling down for a nice, long nap. Steven finally said that Cheeto wasn't such a bad cat after all :-). So everything is coming along nicely at DD's and all is well with Cheeto. I'm sure there will be more stories as time goes on and the cat and dog get to be friends. Hope everyone is having a nice holiday & CiaoMeow >^;;^<
PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at