Meet our kitten: October! He’s almost four months old. We’re gonna call him Toby for short, which sounds like toe beans, so I’ll probably wind up calling him Toebeans all the time.

OMG I LOVE HIM! We have him set up in the bathroom and closed securely in there so that he has his safe space to start out with. His open litter box, food and water, and his carry crate are in there so he has somewhere to hide if he wants; and I draped a towel over a rack and the side of the toilet so he has a little cave.

He’s really shy, but we have plenty of love and patience to coax him into letting loose. He’s meowing a lot and of course is ignoring his food and treats, but that’s expected. I’d like for him to get comfortable with us and to be regularly going in his litter box before we crack the door and let him explore the house gradually so the whole new environment at once isn’t too much on him. Kitties don’t like change much, so it takes some longer than others to get used to new places.

I’m going in there often, sitting down quietly and moving slowly, talking sweet, and offering to pet him, and dangling toys at him. He watches the toys, but he wasn’t so sure about me until my husband took a turn to meet him. He took a cheeseburger in there, the cheater! He offered him a little bite, and even though the kitty was too stressed to really eat it, he came over to him and started purring really hard, sniffing the cheeseburger like crazy, and rubbing his face all over him! I was jealous, haha, but so glad! The hubby called me in there so I could see how much the kitty was still loving on him! I was so excited! Then I gave him a sniff of a cheeseburger nibble, and he slowly came over and let me pet him! He rubbed his face all over my foot. He’s a foot kinda guy, I guess.

~Starling

(2-3-2020)