She Climbs Because She Can

This is Tillie hanging from my leg.

She's lean, she's fast, she climbs. One second she's on the ground, the next she has all 18 toes sunk into your thigh.

Why does she do this? Because she can.  When you are little like that and full of determination, you can go anywhere.

Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You!

I'm super excited to announce today that the Internet Cat Video Festival will be coming to Tacoma's  very own Grand Cinema on the evening of April 11th.  Surely you cat lovers have heard of this fest before -- it all started a few years back at the Walker Art Center where they compiled all of the very best cat videos from the Interwebs and shared them with a live audience for the very first "offline celebration of online cat videos."  Now, this curated collection of cat and kitten clips tours, and we're so thrilled they're stopping by our town!





The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee and the Humane Society for Tacoma and Pierce County will be joining in on this glorious event, and we hope you will come too!   There will be prizes,  we'll be collecting cat food donations for the shelter's Emergency Pet Food Pantry, and WYLLA, yes our dear little Wylla Stout will be making an appearance at the event!  Charlene Butterbean was invited too, but she politely declined as she hates car rides and crowds make her nervous.


Tickets are going fast, so if you want to join us, please don't delay!  To learn more about the event and purchase your tickets please visit HERE or HERE.

We hope to see you there!!

 

It's THAT Time Again!

I know you're not going to like what I'm about to say,  but dear friends, it's time for goodbyes.  I know, I know, it seems like they just got here, but our Higgenbottoms weren't so tiny when they arrived, so we've known all along their stay with us would be brief.

Two of them packed their tiny suitcases and have left already. The other will be gone before the week is out.

Any guesses on who departed together?  

As you know, I normally wait until all parties are out the door before I share the adoption tales,  so next week I'll let you know who went with who and to where!

I was just looking at their intake paperwork, and the boxes "friendly" and "scared" were both checked for each kitten. That's exactly what they were at first, but all became such loving, social and outgoing kittens. We sure have enjoyed spending this chapter with them.

We're going to miss you, little Higgenbottoms!

Especially moments like this:

Ear Floof, Fuzzy Toes, Velvet Noses

Higgenbottom Highlight Reel

I strung together a few of my favorite Higgenbottoms moments and made them into a little highlight reel for you!

Here's you'll see a couple of good pounces from little Chesley, some chirping from Harold, and Mr Monty doing a little victory trot when he captures his prey (the feather wand).

Thank you for always being so entertaining, dear Higgenbottoms!

 

Valentine's Day Visitors

We had some sweet visitors on Valentine's Day -- Opal the Human, brother Ellis, and Jennifer, their mom stopped by.   The kids had each stitched an adorable heart filled with catnip and wanted to bring them over for Charlene, Wylla, and the kittens.

The kittens were just waking from a nap when they all arrived, so the kids got some cuddles in first, and once they came to life, the kittens scooted across the floor and chased their new toys. We got out the feather wand next,  and all laughed hard at Monty who kept trying to take control of the toy. He  kept grabbing it, and growled and cried when anyone tried to remove it from his tightly clenched jaws.

Whenever Opal and Ellis vist, there are alway a few pleas to take a kitten (or three) home with them, and much discussion over which one it would be.

"I will take care of him.  Harold could just live on my bed," said Opal.

This was followed by a few rounds of "Can we have one, Mom?"

Then, "Can we have three?"

And Ellis chimed in with "I want Monty".

Opal later changed her mind and decided that Chesley should be the one to come live with her if mom would agree to it, and said she would call her Stormy Sparkles. Or was it Sparkly Storm? It was something like that.

Wylla and Charlene were upstairs and too busy with their morning naps to come down and say hello to our visitors. I shared their Valentine gifts with them later, and the girls seemed to really enjoy them.

Thank you Opal, Ellis, and Jennifer for making our Valentine's Day a sweet one!

Cutest Little Home Wrecker

I'm always trying to make  Craig watch videos of the cats.  He objects because he sees the live version of the cats every single day and feels there's no need to see any replays.

But I insisted he watch this.

And I don't think he minded because HIS CAT IS SO FUNNY!  And when you watch this you'll see the Higgenbottoms thinks she's funny too!


She doesn't chew on cardboard all the time, but when she does, she's pretty manic about it. Don't worry, she spits the bits out. She just seems to enjoy the act of destruction -- she's not interested in eating it.

Oh, you're a weird one, Wylla Stout.











Thanks so much to all who placed an order from our shop yesterday!  I took a load of orders to the post office yesterday afternoon and packed up the rest last night.They'll go out this morning as soon as I post this post and get to the post office!

The big sellers so far are the Cute Couples set. A lot of you bought our pin sets, too! We appreciate your support so much!

Three Little Cats on a Warm Bathmat

The Higgenbottoms discovered yesterday that a warm, soft, squishy, fresh-from-the-dryer bathmat is just about the greatest place in the world to be.

How happy they were until I shooed them away so I could take a shower!

Meeting Bean

Though I've seen this scene a hundreds of with times dozens of litters, it still warms my heart like nothing else.

Easy Introductions

Though I know she was anxiously awaiting introductions with our adorable Higgenbottoms, dear Wylla managed to exercise great patience and self-control when the moment came.  I love how she stayed on her perch and allowed them to discover her first.

Bottomless Higgenbottom Cuteness

Look who's out in the big world!! The Higgenbottoms! Yes, quarantine was up yesterday, so last night they were allowed to come out into the main area of our home.

They were a tiny bit cautious coming out of their room, but barely a minute later they were running wild, playing with all the toys,  climbing everything, and fearlessly mingling with the big cats.

And just moments after that we were taking group photos on the couch!

I've got a video of their first moments of freedom and I'll share that with you tomorrow.

Until then, please enjoy the results of their family portrait session!

Oh little Higgenbottom family, your cuteness is bottomless.

Itty Bitty Higgenbottom Clips

I take a lot of little kitten movies on my iPhone and post the best moments on our Instagram feed. They're just short bits of kittens doing cute things and because they're so very brief, I usually don't bother uploading them to YouTube and sharing them here.

Well, yesterday the Higgenbottoms were doing SO many cute things and I got lots of short clips, so I decided to string them all together and make one little movie for you.

In this movie, you'll hear lots of purrs -- because that's what they do best -- and a few squeaks from Monty, too.

If you want to see more of this every day,  find IBKC_Laurie on Instagram and follow!

 

Patience, Please!

Our little Higgenbottoms seem to be doing just fine and are adjusting well to their new surroundings. They were a bit timid at first, like most newbies are, but every day you can see their confidence grow.

They are a little older than other sets we've hosted -- I would guestimate their age to be about eight weeks --so this means their stay will most likely be a brief one.

Chesley has the most growing to do -- her brothers outweigh her by six ounces.  Socially speaking, she's the most advanced and she's usually the one crying for us to come visit them in their room. She wasn't the first to purr, but she purrs the most.

Charlene and Wylla and very curious to know who's inside that room and have been trying hard to sneak a peek.  Wylla cries at their door requesting to come in for a visit and mopey Bean just plops down on the floor and sticks her nose close to the crack beneath the door.  We still have a hair over a week to go before they will be granted access, so they will have to practice some patience!   Patience doesn't come easy to those two -- they're pretty used to getting what they want, when they want it!

Hello H.H.

Charlene's favorite flavor of kitten has alway been the floofy tabby boy, so she's going to be so excited to meet THIS little fellow once quarantine is up.

Please say hello to the very hairy Harold Higgenbottom.







He's the third and final Higgenbottom, so this completes our introductions.

Harold wishes you all a wonderful Monday, and hopes his adorableness has brightened your day!