Life - Mike

Introducing Mike. He likes being up high, in this case about 10 inches off the ground.

Mike is the oldest of the kittens we're temporarily sheltering. With age came some real life experience, and he was the toughest to catch - two days of chasing him around and almost a day with a trap out didn't work. In the end the cat food in the cage seemed too tempting because I found him scared and trapped in the cage.

Once I brought him inside the store (until the evening's vet appointment), he decided to make sure that all of the food was gone. After all, if he's stuck in a cage, might as well eat, right?

We had to bring him home since the vet couldn't house the kitten - they had some other kittens there that were sick or something. Or her, as we thought at the time, because the vet declared Mike a "her" at "her" first appointment. A week later we brought "her" back to the vet and the vet proclaimed her a him.

He seemed a little standoffish compared to the other kittens - different litter (although same dad we think) so sort of a cousin. His size - he was twice their weight at first - also made it difficult to do anything rough with them. They'd squeal in protest and eventually he learned that he could really only bathe them gently, or tag them with his paws. He readily runs for shelter but if you approach him he lets you pick him up.

Mike (at left) with the others.

Interestingly enough he was the most passive of the four kittens when I hold him. The others still squirm and try to escape when I trim their nails, but Mike waits for me to finish before he squirms. Well, I get the front ones done, and some of the back ones, then Mike gets impatient. And, since Mike seems to wait until the last possible moment to use the litterbox, I let him go if he starts looking longingly over to the litterboxes. Once I made the mistake of thinking he was squirming just to squirm, but when I put him down he started dropping things as he scampered away. Now I let him go - I can always finish later.

At play. He already knows how to bat without claws, but he likes to play wrestle fully armed too.

Mike has big ears like Batman (the Michael Keaton Batman), big mitts for paws. Someone said he has some Maine Coon in him, and that's a distinct possibility. His fur is also incredibly soft, softer than the others. He is a very good cat to hold, soft, passive, and gentle.

Note big paws, big ears. Showing a little claw.

He got the name Mike because, well, he looks like a little angry Mike. He did to the missus, and when she said the name Mike, he looked exactly like that to me too. So we named him Mike.

I brought home a few play mice from work one day, to entertain the kittens. Tiger and Lilly always liked the fake mice, and I thought I'd treat the littles ones to the same pleasure.

Problem was that they felt somewhat threatened. One of the twins approached it, but didn't really want to touch it. Mike approached, sniffed, growled, and attacked. As soon as he growled the other kittens scattered, running for shelter. And although Mike seemed to really like killing this mouse, the other kittens' fright had us retrieve said mouse.

The mouse. Mike, I think, would be a good mouser.

We are looking to adopt out Mike, as nice as he is. A nice couple came into the store to check out pictures and perhaps they'll take him, but if not, he's available.

Mike.