Seeing Harley (Pot) play with Prune just as if they had been litter mates is so sweet. There is plenty of rough and tumble as they practice the skills of being predators & hunters. As you look at them thy are always weighing each other up...
I see them also taking turns..... where during one play session one will be the hunter & the other is prey. They play hard and so very soon become exhausted. All three cats wonder off settling down for a snooze always close together snuggled up in a bundle warm & cosy. The next time they wake the other kitten takes the lead & the zooming around begins again!
My downstairs has a natural flow, which is like a race track, they go around and around chasing one another with glee. Soon though one kitten will tire & tuck herself into a corner & wait...... until the other comes by & then she pounces & the chasing begins again. What fun!
Noodle meanwhile, is torn... I can see her desperate sometimes to play... the games we played together almost to the end of her pregnancy excite her, but she hold back, allowing the kittens to play & learn. Just occasionally, very, very occaionally, her inner kitten will emerge and she can't contain herself any longer & she will join in momentarily before backing off again & watching on.
If one of the kittens has woken & slipped away from the bundle, when she wakes she does a head count & with one missing she sets off immediately to find her... calling for her. It is touching to see her concern is not jus for her own daughter but for Prune too.
She is a mother now, & what I have witnessed since introducing Pru to the fold is that the nature of the cat is amazing. Though at first she was angry, & her instinct was to protect her own daughter, she has seen that Pru is just a kitten & was no threat, then she took her on as her own allowing her to suckle at her breast just as if she were her own. That is a beautiful thing to have seen.
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| Noodle is somewhat surprised when Prune sneaks in to suckle her. |
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| A protective arm thrown over her adopted daugher |
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| A bundle of cats (Pru is in the bag at the back) |
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| Pru decides it is time to get up |
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| Mum throws out a leg to say 'No, stay" |
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| When this is ignored, Mum wakes & lets Pru know that it is time fir her to rest! |