Blog of Ice: February 2016

This blog seems to be turning into a thorough description of the antics of our cats. Since it is suppose to reflect our adventures in Sweden, it should be clear that what we have mostly done during the last 2 months were cat related (also worked a bit on wooden items, now exclusively posted here). However, once it becomes a bit warmer we will possibly spend less time indoors like hibernating bears and have more to write about.

With that said, I introduce the newest cat in our collection (I recently discovered the word for a group of cats is a clowder): Kameel

Kameel, our new cat

We got Kameel a week after Kwagga went missing (read here if you need an update). Donkie was quite depressed (as were we). He did not go out for long and stopped playing with us after 2 days. He just slept or walked aimlessly through the house. We thought that, in time, we would get another cat and started to look at advertisements for new kittens and cat shelter websites. The idea was that we would spend a month or so looking for a cat and see in the meantime if any is available, not thinking we would get one too soon (the last time we looked for cats for almost 8 months before we got Donkie and Kwagga). We were in no rush and we did not think that there would be many people actively advertising during this season (there is an active decline of advertisements around the Christmas season - the reason: most people do not want their kittens bought and given as Christmas gifts).

Then very suddenly we got Kameel. On Sunday night after Christmas, I saw some kittens on the adoption website Livbojen and sent an email to merely inquire about the procedure. I got an answer in less than 30 minutes and after a few more emails we have arranged to get a kitten the following day.

Image of the available kittens sent by Livbojen

In less than 12 hours we started a 400 km round trip to get a kitten aged 12 weeks. She was one of a litter of 4 kittens, by a female too young to have offspring. The four were found on a farm and placed in a home where people help raise orphaned kittens. At 12 weeks they are advertised for adoption. At this stage they have had all their vaccinations. We signed the agreement that has several clauses to ensure the owners take care of their cats (this is not done when purchasing a cat from a private person). We got the kitten into the cat transportation cage and were on our way back.

Kameel's first experience of our home

From the beginning Kameel was more vocal than our other cats. She was also quite bold. Once home, we were worried about the interaction that she and Donkie would have. It turned out that Donkie seemed more afraid of this new weird animal than she was of him but soon he got used to her and started to cautiously play with her. Within 2 days they were good friends and running through the house chasing each other. Things seemed to become better.

Kameel and Donkie

Kameel and Donkie - again sleeping

A few nights later we heard a strange meowing in the washing room. Kwagga was back. She was gone for a total of 11 days, we think she was locked in somewhere. She clearly had not eaten for the whole time and lost more than half her body weight. When I picked her up I could feel only ribs and spine. Here eyes were foggy and her voice was hoarse and faint. We fed her and she went to sleep. For the next few days she did not move much, except to eat. When she walked somewhere it seemed extremely laborious and she was very stiff. We of course took her to the vet and they gave us some advice on what to do to get her better. There was thus not much interaction between Kameel and Kwagga for a few days. Slowly Kwagga got better, but she did not like the new small animal running around. For a week Kwagga merely hissed at Kameel. However, Kameel being bold, kept on going to Kwagga and after a while Kwagga gave up hissing and started to play with her. Currently all three cats get along very well and both Kwagga and Kameel spend a lot of time in the shop with me (cats in the shop).

Kameel and Kwagga together.

Things are now more normal again (given that we have 3 cats now). Kwagga and Donkie go out during the day as before but we will wait a few months (until it is a bit warmer) before we let Kameel roam the country side (she is still quite small and also has much shorter hair than the others).