| *Kelda Khronicles* |
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| The Kittens and Kelda |
| It’s happened. Socks’s kittens have left the safety of their nesting box and are now exploring the big, bad world, or at least the only world they know- my brother-in-laws-room and the bit of the hallway. They’ve reached the age where that cute, playful, wobbly kitten-ness is showing. They are on their way to becoming cats and that means being exposed to the rest of our family, which really means getting to know Kelda. In the great hierarchy of cats, Kelda is queen. There is only one other member of this family who holds status is greater than hers. That would be me. My status, however great it is, is only recognized when I have to tell Kelda ‘no’ and that’s rarely done. She is a very well behaved cat. Queen Kelda has been quietly watching the development of the kittens since their delivery. While Socks was giving birth, Kelda peaked in on us to make sure we were taking proper care of her sibling. She spent a lot of time smelling our hands after we handled the newborn kittens. She eventually peaked her head in the box to get her own glimpse of the new lives. Eventually, her peaking in on the kittens became a daily habit. She adjusted to not having Sock’s around all the time to torment with non-stop play. She got used to the little ones meowing for milk in the nesting box. She got used to us humans spending a good deal of time ohhhing and ahhhing over the kittens and giving Socks praise for being a wonderful momma kitty. We gave Kelda extra love and attention to make sure she didn’t feel neglected. Now Socks no longer spends so much time confined to the bedroom. Now Kelda is back to playing with Socks. Socks is back to running from Kelda in the same annoyed manner as before, just not as often. Now these kittens no longer reside in a box and are interested in the other cat, besides mom-Kelda. It was okay when Kelda was an unnoticed observer. But when the three kittens all at once took notice of Kelda for the first time, they all wobbled towards her. Kelda, did what she always does when approached by small creatures- she jumped quickly back, turned around, ran and hid. I immediately recognized this behavior as the same process she went through when she met our three rats and our bunny. They are now her pets, too. So I knew that the next step was for Kelda to build up to the next step- returning to investigate the kittens more before admitting that they were acceptable creatures to cohabitate with. Kelda did return. She returned over and over again. |