h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Number 2 has been so jealous of our new kitten that Mrs D. decided we should get her one for her birthday. A lady was found with a kitten to spare and we went to fetch it.

Arriving at the address my wife and number 3 went to get this kitten with the reminder ringing in their ears, "make sure it's a boy." Some five minutes later they return with two kittens, both grey.

"Which do you like ?" she asks. I examine both balls of fur, and choose the one which is making less noise. "Are they both boys ?" I ask. "Oh yes." I'm told. "OK, that one then."

"That's what I thought." says Mrs D. and climbs in the car.

"Just a minute," says I, "You've got to take the other one back."

"Oh no," replies the lady, "that's for Number 2."

I point at the kitten I just picked, "I thought that was for her."

My wife turns and looks at me, "What do you mean ? You said YOU wanted that one."

Once I'd have argued - this time I just started the car.

I was keen to avoid the mistakes with the last kitten, number 6 was told she could name the kitten, any name she liked. WE now have a maniac boy kitten called Gertie.

So a naming poll was initiated, this came down to a shortlist of three.

1). Gandalf
2). Mokuba
3). Indie.

Definitely Gandalf, if I'm allowed to vote.

Although I would have loved to have seen Annie, Cassiopeia and Andromeda make the final list

Not Sox or Kookie, then?

Hope you don't have too many puddles!

My son-in-law calls their cat "Cooking fat" but that's not its real name

You should of course remember there were 5 female voters on the list - the winning name was ....



Calcifer.

Ah come on you love it all..You are the perfect parent at the end of the day...and you have a brood to be proud of..

Our old cat Ollie has been getting less and less active, and over the last week he's got weaker and weaker.

Two days ago we brought him in, and he's just wandered round the house, not eating, and lying down. We could see the end was near.

I came home from work tonight, and he was lay in the living room, I stroked him and he purred a little. I went upstairs to read with the lad, but we'd hardly started when my wife came in crying.

Ollie had died.

We got him 13 years ago as a rescue cat, he wasn't a kitten, and from the moment we brought him home it was clear he was a people cat. He had a fantastic purr and tolerated 4 little girls dressing him up, riding him in prams, and dragging him around. I'll miss him being there at the gate to greet me when I come home from work, and all the old ladies passing our gate who used to stop and stroke him will wonder where he is.

Calcifer is going to have a lot to live up to.

Sorry to hear that news..

Hmmm - Calcifer is getting a suspisciously large tummy !

Wandering in from the info page: Am I assuming that Calcifer may indeed not be a boy? Only she'd be a bit young to get pregnant, even if a girl. Perhaps he is settling in too well?

About 3 months ago, we started feeding a scrawny stray cat. She put on a bit of weight and from a swift look at her undercarriage, I deduced she might be pregnant as her teats were very prominent. About a week later, she turns up with 4 kittens of about 10-12 weeks old for their tea. Obviously, I'm not a cat gynaecologist!

We have since adopted one of the kittens who decided to move in one day and has never left. Her name is Gravy, short for Gravyhead, as she was always first in the bowl for dinner and usually got the dregs of the can dripped on her head as she was in before I could empty it into the bowl! We reckon she is about 4-5 months old now and will soon have a little holiday at the vets to de-bug and neuter before she moves in fully. 2 nights ago, I popped a flea collar round her neck and she didn't bat an eyelid.

Pity we can't do the same about Mother cat who is looking decidedly porky these days and looks like it may not be long before she brings another litter around for tea. At the moment, we feed Gravy and Mother cat, the rest of the kittens are shooed away.

Cyprus has a huge problem with feral cats and I don't mind adopting one or two, but 5 and a new litter is a bit too much! Mother cat and the rest of the kittens are too wary of humans to get near so no chance of getting them speyed.

But, oooh, the joy of a purring kitten on your lap in the evening!

I don't really mind how you get here. But what do you mean by the info page ?

Well its notoriously difficult to sex cats, and I struggled to find any nipples, but the rear view would suggest that we are looking at lady here.

As she is living with Gertie, a complete male cat, pregnancy is possible, but my initial thought was the same as yours - too young.

Time as they say will reveal all.

Sorry, the info page is what I call the stats page, the one with the last 20 updated conversations. I was wandering through it and as kittens are very much on my daily agenda these days, your thread stuck out!

We assume Gravy is a girl, but she is the only one we can get a look at and it's much easier to sex them if you have one of each to compare! Out of the 4 kittens, two are ginger and white and are bigger so we assume they are boys, one is calico and Gravy is grey mackerel on the back with white face and legs. The last two are much smaller so we think they are girls as they look dinky and girly!

I've only ever had kittens from friends/relatives before so this is my first attempt at taming a stray, although Gravy seems to have no problems with it! Hubby (DDD - U1263973) swears he is a dog man, but after tonight when he was concerned that the kitten purring in his lap was cold and covered her in his fleece - we live in Cyprus and it's 17 degrees at night, she aint that cold! - I think I have a convert on my hands.

I always thought that female cats needed to be around 5-6 months before they could get pregnant as most vets won't neuter before then, but a few weeks out and you may have a ready made family!

Ollie - our old cat was a rescue cat - we got him from the Cat's Protection League. I'm not a big fan of animal charities when so many people are suffering, but anyway - he was an ex-feral cat, and a truly ferocious fighter, he'd battle anything on four legs, yet he totally ignored the birds in the garden. He tolerated streams of kittens that came and went, dogs that he had to train, and lately yet another little kitten. He was pet to four little girls who dragged him around, and though he ran and hid he never scratched them and never failed to appear when I came home from work.

Damn I miss him. Sorry.

Anyway, you train feral carts like any other cat, you allow them to live with you, you define the rules, and consider yourself homoured if they obey some.