Meet Peachy (the kitten I decided to keep)!

15 years ago

As some of you may recall, a stray cat raised three kittens in my ice house. As I write this, the mama is upstairs in my guest room, getting some R&R after being spayed last week.

The calico kitten went to a young woman who has a young adult cat. Both woman and cat adore the newcomer.

When the kittens were tiny, a friend asked me to reserve the orange one for his mother. That left the black one. Since black cats are notoriously harder to place than any other color, and since I love black cats, I decided to keep him myself. But then we learned that the orange was a female. My friend's mother decided she'd rather have the black male. Somewhat reluctantly (I was attached!), I agreed. After having him for only one day, though, she gave him to her son and his girlfriend. I know they will give him a good home, so I was okay with that. But it underscored the fact that no matter how hard we try to find an excellent home for an animal, once it leaves our house we have no control over what happens to it.

So........I decided to keep the orange kitten. For now, she's sequestered in my bedroom, and spends her nights in a dog crate in the guest room with her mother. (The vet told me not to put them together because she would nurse or otherwise disturb her mother's incision.) I'm not looking forward to introducing her to the other cats. Pogo should be okay, but Annie the Mean is another story! Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

I named her Peachy. She is the smallest in her litter, but also the bravest and most adventurous. If this happened years ago, I'd go to the shelter and adopt another kitten so they could play together. But that was then and this is now.......I just hope I can keep her sufficiently amused.

She loves this toy.....

Kitten in motion!

Wish I didn't have to use flash, but you get the idea....

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Comments (20)

maire_cate
15 years ago
Oh how darling - that last photo is adorable. Somehow I don't think you'll have to keep her entertained! And I'll keep my fingers crossed that both Pogo and Annie welcome the new little kitty.
Jasdip
15 years ago
Oh, how adorable!! Good for you Susan!
Give her a paper bag, that will keep her amused as well. It doesn't take much to make kittens happy! LOL

Those toys are fantastic, and she obviously loves it. When it gets to be too noisy, AND when you go to bed, just flip it over, so she can't let the ball rip, while you're trying to sleep.
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bigack
15 years ago
How sweet, I love peachy kitties!
jannie
15 years ago
She'sw a cutie! I just love orange tabbies!
lisa_fla
15 years ago
Love the name! She is very cute. When we brought Trevor home as a 4 month old kitten, Sophie didn't have much of an aissue at all with him. He wasn't a threat to her.
petaloid
15 years ago
She's darling -- glad you are keeping her.
lydia1959
15 years ago
Peachy is very cute! It's wonderful that you found homes for the others... are you keeping the mother as well?
Tally
15 years ago
She's adorable. You know, most orange cats are male. Female orange cats are rare because they require both orange genes, whereas male cats only require one orange gene to have the color. A female who carries only one gene will be calico.

Just a little trivia!
alisande
Original Author
15 years ago
Tally, I didn't know most orange cats are male until I took two of the kittens to the vet. They were surprised to find the orange was female. The other kittens were black & white (male) and calico.

Lydia, I just let the mother cat outdoors a few minutes ago. For various reasons, I hope to keep her as an outside cat. (My other cats are indoors only.) I think she'll stick around if I keep her fed. I have ideas for providing warmth in winter.

She's been very vocal, and I think she's asking me about her kittens. She was such a devoted mother.
ritamay91710
15 years ago
She's absolutely adorable......just a word of wisdom, orange cats are known to be very, let's say, busy lol.
FlamingO in AR
15 years ago
"Rolly Ball"! Our kittens LOVE that toy! Sometimes we set up a box next to it, or make a tunnel and cover it to jazz it up for them, make it "new" again.

Peachy is adorable and orange cats are the best! A female is kind of rare, but we had Freddie Wheat, she was that same color orange as Peachy.

Glad you're keeping her, Susan and she'll be great, fun company for you!
lynn_d
15 years ago
Omigosh, she is adorable, Susan! She looks to be about the same age as our new baby, Miss Spits A Lot, (Missy for short).
She loves that rolly ball as well, if I am looking for her all I have to do is roll the ball. She is the only child of a feral that gifted us with a litter last summer as well, I so want to get hold of 'Mama', I assume she was the only survivor.

We just found out that the big bear we had earlier this year was moved by the state but has been replaced by a pack of coyotes. The guys in the neighborhood are actively hunting for them but that pushed hubby into agreeing that Missy and her older brother (previous litter) become housecats.
linda_in_iowa
15 years ago
My Mango, is 3 now and is the sweetest kitty. She is a lap cat and plays well with my other 2. Mango has rings on her tail and I once had an old vet tell me that ring tailed cats are the most lovable.
User
15 years ago
Orange cats have great personality. Female ones are very very rare, so both mine were male and two of my favorite cats. Keep her in toys and she'll do fine w/o a buddy.
teresava
15 years ago
Halfway through your story I couldn't imagine why your black cat would be named Peachy! lol She is so cute! I would love to have some kittens (as would my girls), but I developed an allergy after college.
susanjf_gw
15 years ago
this susan would be in deep trouble if i brought home another cat, lol...my 2 now are 16. but doing well...but dh said no more, sigh...
sjerin
15 years ago
Awwwwww, she is so cute! My sister has an orange kitty, named Kitty and he's super friendly. Enjoy the fun!
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
15 years ago
just precious! My cat Garfield was an orange cat and was the best cat I ever had, he lived a long 21 years and I still miss him every day. I hope your little one will give you as much joy. I know what you mean about introductions been there done that but they will eventually end up all in a pile sleeping together.

I have 2 litters of feral kittens now out back that are just so darling, but very very wild. I managed to pick one litter up and look at them when they were tiny, one is a female is siamese color with bright blue eyes and is just adorable, the other 2 I call the twin boys they look exactly alike with a white ruff around the neck and body of black and gray stripes, cute cute cute.

The second litter I did not know about till just recently when the solid black mother cat showed up at the water bowl with them. There are 4 of them one solid black, the other 3 shades of black with gray all very dark. I have no idea what sex they are and have never been able to touch any of them.

I so badly want to catch them and try to find good homes for them and get the mothers fixed. When they see me coming in my wheel chair to the glass doors they scatter!
soxxxx
15 years ago
I did not know until reading this post that most orange cats are male. Thanks for that information.

The lady that gave me an orange kitten assured me that it was a female like I wanted. I named her Lily.

When I took her to the vet for the first time he said, "This is no Lily, you need to pick another name."
glenda_al
15 years ago
Lucky Peachy!

Meet Peachy (the kitten I decided to keep)!

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Meet Peachy (the kitten I decided to keep)!

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