The boys have sttled in and are no longer skulking arund the back of
furniture. The long haired blue eyed deaf one (previously known as Indigo)
is a very sooky puss, wanting to be picked up and cradled like a baby all
the time. Nobody here has time or the inclination to have a 'baby' in their
arms, so the poor old puss has to get used to walking on his own four paws
and having to be more like a cat than a human baby. Being deaf, its hard to
figure out a name for him, but Suki or Sooky seems to fit ok, but then
again, so did Indigo. Unfortunatley both sound like girl's names to me, and
as far as i can tell, he's a boy (having *massive* pantaloons, its hard to
tell). Suki or whatever his name is, finds Cary's enthusiasm a little hard
to take (and being deaf, can't hear him approach) and so there's been a few
scratches - but very very light ones. They'll figure out to leave each other
alone soon enough.

The short haired, golden eyed, slightly striped hearing one formerly known
as Casper and tentatively named Kunks has gone through several names. Kunks,
as much as it was a cool name, just didn't work (and Joel just couldn't
prounounce it without giggling). T.D.2 was kinda cute (T.D. being short for
'Tweedle Dum') but the cat comes straight away if you call for "Pickles". So
I think we have a Pickles the cat. Despite having perfect hearing, this cat
is not scared of Cary and hasn't raised a claw at him - which is odd because
Pickles is still hissing and swiping at Fluffy at every oppurtunity, whilst
Suki has already touched noses with Fluffy. Pickles likes playing chasey
with Cary and Cary gets hours of enjoyment playing 'cat fishing' with a
peice of string. Pickles goes to Cary to play and curls up next to Cary when
Cary is still and watching TV (a rare event, but happens occasionally).
Clearly, Pickles has chosen Cary as his human, which is so sweet.

Although they we born on the same day and therefore most likely littermates,
they lived seperately at least for a while as their veterinary records list
two different addresses. They therefore *haven't* been together and never
seperated, which explains why they more tolerate each other than being
affectionate with each other. They don't curl up together or mutually groom.
It also explains, at least to my mind, why Pickles behaves far more like a
'normal' cat (whatever that is) willing to play, groom, sleep on furniture
and otherwise do cat things whereas Suki is under the impression he's a
human baby, wants to be in our arms *all* the time, and isn't overly
interested in normal catly things to do.

However, Suki is coming around to being a cat, because last night we did
have an hour or so of Herd of Thundering Wildebeests Stampeding Across the
Plains of the Serengeti at 4am, and I heard *both* bells jingle, rather than
just Pickle's (Pickle, like Cary, rarely if ever stops). Suki is also
starting to copy her brother in The Great Fly Hunt and despite his (I keep
wanting to write 'her') all that long hair and elegance, can do a vertical
jump to catch a fly that puts Pickles to shame. I'm hoping that Suki slowly
gets used to being a cat here, and develops more of a personality like his
brother. I think its a  shame he was treated like a baby rather than a cat.
I can *understand* it, but it means that the cat can never live their own
life, and hte owner never really gets to experience the fun and laughter
that catly behaviour can bring in one's life. Either that, or Suki's main
role life is just to sit aruond and look extra pretty, which is fine too,
he's extra good at it.

I find I am also quite allergic to Suki, and am having to take all my asthma
and allergy related drugs to be close to him, so perhaps someone with a more
severe allergy really couldn't be with him.  He does like doing the
face-hugger thing, and when he does, my eyes immediately start stinging and
I can feel my lungs starting to ache, even on the extra medication. Pickles,
on the other hand, doesn't seem to trigger my allergic reaction any more
than Shmogg did. I'm trusting that my allergies will eventually settle down
as I get more used to the new allergen in my envronment.

I'll post pictures when I have time to take them - its all a bit of a wild
Christmas rush at the moment.

Yowie, Suki & Pickles