Vester Vies for Visibility

Vester is an absolute sweetheart, outgoing, light-hearted, totally oblivious to the Blazing Saddles final scenes chaos churning around him with the other kittens. He does a Snoopy Dance trying to grab the antique brass keyhole on the low cedar chest. Doesn't give up even when he can't "catch" it.

He never meets a stranger and it's as if he knows he's a duckling now (but he'll be a swan in about a year), but that he knows he has to make up for his transformational stage with his personality.

If you've seen photos of Aja (we called her Audrey) on the Testimonials pages and on the Aja and Shombay Blog... Audrey had the same huge ears, thin coat, not high contrast when young, delicate face as Vester.

We knew Audrey was going to be spectacular when mature because we'd had one other kitten with the same attributes and he grew into a gorgeous Savannah. And both are the most affectionate, bonded, sweet creatures you can imagine. Very typey at maturity although not when younger. But you can't anticipate their beauty unless you've watched someone with similar attributes blossom.



Vester is endearing. Outgoing, engaging, interactive, never intimidated, always happy, carefree, oblivious, he shares well, plays well with everyone, including us. He's very mature, physically and emotionally, and he purrs if you talk to him from across the room.

When he winds down, Vester drops in place, curls up like a lamb, puts his head on his front paws and is out hard til he recharges. You have no choice but to fall in love with him.

We're in the process of making our final choices for our kittens and it appears that Murray may be available, too.

Murray is in the back, playing with Emmett's tail. Murray runs non-stop, tail totally fluffed out, fur fluffed, full-speed, and dances sideways, up on his toes, at the other kittens inviting them to chase him. He also drops in his tracks, but it just takes longer for Murray to wind down than it does for Vester. Murray has striking gray eyes and will look very much like his mother Komari when mature, but has Cary's long, long legs. You can see his happy fluffy tail in the bottom photo.

Murray the Moose?

Have the Netbook webcam set up and able to take a short break from Kboo and kittens. They're all asleep and maybe I can get this published without running upstairs five times. But I doubt it...

Murray is going to be a big boy, and he is full of personality. VERY full. He was serval-leaping at his mother this morning, would fall short, then roll, grab her front leg, bite and kick like mad. Really feeling his testosterone. He's a lover, but he's not intimidated by anything. He chose Andrew, big time.

Jericho lays in wait under the end table, then launches out and tackles whoever is close, then dashes back in to do it again. He still does not like heights. He spreads all four feet out like those stuffed cats that suction cup to glass. That's Jericho. Maybe I should have named him Geronimo, like when you jump out of planes or off high places. The name Geronimo would fit.

Emmett wanders around looking for trouble and he grumbles if we hold him when he wants to be down running around. He and Vester both climb to the top of the small scratching post, then wait for Ayo to come by, then pop her on the head. Vester tried to bite an ear, but so far, hasn't connected. Lucky for him. He also jumps down from the scratching post but not very well, he tumbles end over end. Emmett just jumps down and keeps going.

It's so hard to tell what their size will be, except that the big boys will definitely be big. The average-size and above-average kittens OFTEN surprise us. And even Jack, who was just a bit larger than average, is now HUGE.

If you haven't visited recently, check out the Aja and Shombay blog, Rita updated it last week.

This younger photo shows Isabella (larger than her mother already) Jack, and Genevieve (Fina) with Kboo at approximately the same age as Ayo's kittens -- to give you an idea of size. Jack at almost six weeks is equivalent to Murray at the same age. And Murray has very large feet (and a bigger attitude, but in a good way).



The Audrey and Jack photo below is from right before they went home; Jack was 12 weeks of age.



Wait til you visit their blog and see Audrey and Jack (Aja and Shombay) now. Love the one in the doorway where he has his paw around her. Our kittens who go home together, bond with their humans first, but they also love each other. Audrey mothered Jack when they were younger. Now just look how he protects her!

Shombay (Jack) is gigantic, 19 pounds and only 15 months old. Jack is Tessa, Genevieve (Andrew's Fina) and Isabella's brother.

So... if you find yourself in love with a kitten's personality and temperament, but it's a matter of not quite large enough, I'd say take a chance. Because our kittens always surprise us with their eventual size.

Even our F3C Brie (Matthew who has Brie and Lucy) is going to be big. And she was tiny. We told Matthew we never expected her to be any larger than 10 pounds, and she's 16 pounds now at only 20 months. And a total lap cat for Matthew. She took one look at Matthew and decided he was hers. He met us to see Lucy -- and Brie chose him. So he got both girls, photos on Lucy and Brie's blog. And Brie (and Lucy) is everything he wanted because he's the human that BRIE wanted and she made it happen. She's a dynamo.

Need to update for Kboo's kittens next.

Personalities and Body Types

No new photos yesterday, we tried but no one was cooperating. In part because Vesper's eyes are open, finally! She's catching up on her exploring and would not stay put for even two seconds. She's going to have a beautiful face, at this point, we think very similar to our F2B giraffe, Cary. And she's going to be a very large F2, she weighs more than Olivia at the same age.

Murray is going to have Cary's long, long legs, as you can tell from the photos in the last post. His face reminds us of our F2B Komari, also from Ayo and Wari. He's very outgoing and people-oriented already. Murray always comes to me, even if he's close to Ayo. Vesper used to come to my voice, but now she'd rather explore. Murray is starting to catch up to his siblings. His weight is just a bit less than Aaron's at the same age.

Emmett is staying very vocal. He seems to enjoy talking and starts as soon as he hears my voice. Emmett also comes running but he's figured out how to make it over the lip of their crate without tumbling. Probably because he has to wait for me to take the barrier down and has time to slow down before he goes over the edge. Ayo does NOT want the barrier down because each kitten takes off in a different direction and she can't keep them herded together. Emmett is a big boy, too, and weighs almost as much as Jericho. But Emmett has a very tightly packed, taut, spring-loaded body type so he appears smaller than Jericho. Emmett's style is similar to our F2B Oliver from Gabatta and Mbau.

Jericho is a bit larger than Emmett, but not by much. Jericho has that very fluid, drapey, laid-back body type like our F2B Spencer, also from Ayo and Wari. Jericho is very relaxed, to put it tactfully. He would rather curl up against Ayo and eat than to greet me, explore, play with his siblings. It's eat, sleep, grow for Jericho!

Olivia and Aaron have been introduced to solid kitten food and Gabatta is very glad since both kittens' baby teeth are coming in. I put a tiny bit of food on my fingertip, offered to Olivia and after the second lick, she decided she'd try to take a bite instead. I can commiserate with Gabatta, for the sharp teeth! I kept moving Olivia closer to her flat food dish, as she followed the food on my finger, and she caught on right away. She was eating next to Gabatta almost immediately. Aaron isn't interested yet. He'd rather nurse. The boys usually take longer to catch on... maybe on purpose? If he's like most of our boys, he'll be about five days behind his sister for learning to eat, use litter, everything. Except for being photogenic. Aaron has everyone beat when it comes to playing to the camera.

Both kittens are exploring their room and we'll add a small Little Tikes toy for them later today. Probably the covered slide because they can go under and play hide-and-seek til they figure out how to make it up the slide. They'll be able to play with the rings on each side and play with Gabatta through the portholes. Everyone seems to love the Little Tikes toys. Ellie's family got her a very nice, large playhouse fort and she loves it. She went in almost as soon as she saw it and knew she was home.

We have a variety of sizes and shapes for our smaller kittens. Even our F1s love the Little Tikes. It's always funny to see Gabatta trying to balance on top the tunnel while her babies are playing below.

Jason is starting to feel better, but I'm not feeling too well. We'd wear a mask when we handle the babies, but Ayo and Gabatta would NOT be happy. Especially since Ayo was upset at Jason's lower voice a few days ago.