The Adventures of Tanjiro, Uschi-Swirl, & Vladimir: Week One Pictures

Uschi - Posing

Glitter-ball boy

This is an email I sent the week after we got the boyz home.
Approx. May 5, 2006 - the boys are 13 weeks old now.

It is been one week since the boys (Tanji & Uschi) arrived home. I think we were well prepared for the worst case scenario so we have been amazed at how good they have been. They are now 13 weeks old, just little guys.

The five+ hour car trip was, welllll a trip,… As soon as we got on the road we let them out of their carrier,… they had the entire back of the car (seats down) to run around,… but they wanted to be in the front with us,… they “sung” for about 2 hours,… and jumped around,… They gave passing cars a good show and we got many happy gestures from passers. Surprisingly, Tanji was the calmest and found Lesley’s lap and the armrest between us relatively quickly, settling in,… Uschi on the other hand, sung steadily until we reached Oregon. He found the shelf in the rear window to be his spot and woke to give a cry everytime the road surface changed or a truck went by (change in noises). When we got off of I-5 they both got up and seemed more relaxed, by the time we hit Corvallis, they were both in Lesley’s lap purring and rolling around.

I think the 5 hour car trip was the best thing that could have happened to our relationship,… they really bonded with us right away and I think set-up a “lap” relationship,…. b/c

These little monsters are total lap kittens, not the wild and crazed Bengal kitties we were prepared for ,… Every time I have come home from a bike ride, run or working in the “yard” Lesley has been snuggled down on the sectional with a totally happy look on her face with two little kittens, totally spread out on their backs and such, each out cold,…

When we wake in the morning, they wake,… (well, the past two days they have been up with the sun and as soon as they see one of our eyes open in an acknowledgement of their presence standing next to us on the bed, they begin wrestling and galloping around the house),… when we arrive home they wake and follow us around,…

They play hard and then sleep hard, anywhere they feel like it. They have been getting a lot of exercise since coming home, so their jumping ability and paw-eye coordination are developing daily. We have had them outside on their harnesses three times. They have learned their cat-door, which lets them out into their outside enclosure. They are still a bit scared of outside (which is good), but they do go into their enclosure without us,… to eat dirt balls and chase ants,… they come back inside to use their litter box. They both have demonstrated good climbing skills. I built an 8 foot tall climbing/scratching pole for them in their outside enclosure by wrapping one of the roof support poles with sisal rope,… when they first saw it,…they went right to the top then cried, they learned to get down by themselves, tough love.

Tanji appears to be the quicker one with learning new things but Uschi is certainly surer of himself/stubborn, sauntering around like a little lion. Tanji plays fetch with “his” glitter balls and toy mice and carries them close to Uschi, growling like a wild cat.

Both boys get on the “exercise wheel” and walk/run a bit, already. They also seem interested in the tub but haven’t gotten in yet.

Both boys have been very well-behaved, and seem to have a litter box fixation and are constantly in there playing and using it. We’ve started training and both are learning to come when called. Today we are taking them on a car ride in addition to their outside leash time.

In just one week they are visibly larger and more coordinated. We are totally hooked.