Kitten Concussions

So, Spike is doing much better, which is leading to all kinds of kitten antics in the basement. Shelby was bad enough on his own, but with his brother getting more active again, it's one hazard after another. If I didn't know better, I'd think they were blind. Maybe they are just growing so quickly that they don't realize their own size. They are perhaps awkward and don't do so well with depth perception yet. They are stealthy when it comes to sneaking behind the poster barrier to the other room. They manage to sneak through a space 2 inches wide, and go hide in the Christmas tree. The biggest concern, however, is how durable their little heads are.

After taking their mid evening naps, they awoke with full force around 9:30. They leap through the room from surface to surface. They climb up the chairs, they hide behind the sofa. They find everything they aren't supposed to find. They chase each other and do flips through the air, off the sofa, into the table. They run as fast as their little kitten legs can manage--right into large hard objects. The room is full of the thumping of their feet, and the thuds as they ram their heads into the bar, the table, the sofa frame. In their rush to hide under the furniture, the underestimate their size, or overestimate the space limitations. The worst though, are the hard smacks when they run into something that is, for them, pretty immovable. Last night Shelby dove headfirst into a large speaker. It wasn't just a little tap. It was full force. I mean, he hit it and bounced off of it, sitting there for a moment stunned. It worried me, but didn't seem to affect him much at all. In just an instant he was at it again, plowing through the room.

And poor Spike. He who is just recovering from his ulcers, conjunctivitis, etc.,. We've introduced the squirt bottle, in futile hopes of curbing the desire to turn our (discontinued) sofa into a scratching post. Jack complains, but won't enforce. But I made him last night, and I fear it will be the end of Jack's disciplining of the cats. Spike was scratching at the sofa, and Jack gave him one little squirt, that sent the guy running, stunned in the other direction. Right. Smack. Into. a roll of shrink wrap. We watched as he bounced back, and the roll slammed to the floor. This is not light, fluffy or soft. It is hilarious to watch, but still a bit worrisome to see him sulk off and rubbed at his poor nose. Jack felt pretty bad about that one.

These are the worst two incidents we've witnessed at this point. Maybe they'll figure it out soon. Maybe not. As I was laying in bed reading, I heard Jack trying to calm them down and wrangle them as they were doing flips off the sofa and slamming into the coffee table.

They don't seem any worse for the wear. It doesn't exactly give me hope though. I'm slightly dreading the release from the bathroom into the basement, and from the basement into the rest of the house. I expect that they will have the run of the place by Christmas. I'm pretty sure I'll come home one day to find the tree toppled over, broken glass everywhere, and grinning kittens near by.

I'll be sure to post pictures. :)