I mentioned at the end of November that we had adopted a kitten, who we named Arwen. She was a resident at the local animal shelter, and her online bio warned people that “did nip her previous owner, so she needs a new family who can handle a playful kitten.” Given that she’s a kitten, I couldn’t understand why somebody would be worried about nipping.
In fact, she’s barely nipped me in the couple months since she moved in. She’s clawed me repeatedly, mostly on my hands, but barely touched me with her teeth. She’s also attacked my feet in bed enough that I added a thick blanket down at my feet for protection. In other words, she’s a fairly typical kitten, at least in that respect.
She’s also a climber. She will dash across the living room to leap onto the climbing tower, or jump on the counter, only to be pushed down and jump on the opposite counter almost immediately. She seems to think the best route to the bedroom window is to cross under the bed, then over the person in bed, onto the nightstand, leaping onto the dresser and stepping onto the jewelry box.
She is immensely curious about our food. The older two cats aren’t that interested in what we eat unless it’s chicken, but Arwen investigates everything, and wants to lick every dish and every serving spoon… even if we’re not done with them. I’ve taken to washing the serving spoons immediately, and re-washing if we go back for more, rather than leaving them out on the counter for her… there’s only so many times I can get up to remove her while I’m eating. And really, some of that food is spicier than a cat should be licking.
More importantly, what her online bio didn’t say is that her purring can be heard across the room. She’ll curl up on an arm and just start purring, or more amusingly, purr while I’m serving her food as she runs laps around the food container, and as she starts to eat. Yeah, that offsets any nipping or clawing. Cuteness wins.