I took them both to the vet a week last Saturday, for Elijah's second jabs
and to check
Yossie over (he hadn't been to the vet before).

He reckons Yossie was about 7 weeks old (then), possibly 8 at the most,
and was therefore dumped in the street at 5-6 weeks old. He also said it
was a very good thing we'd got another kitten, as those dumped so young
are often quite anti-human, and haven't developed all catty skills.
Elijah's good for him, therefore, as well as the other way around!

Elijah was so good at the vet - he didn't even squeak with his jab, and
sat on the scales quite happily. When Yossie was wriggling around and the
vet was trying to listen to his heart, Elijah leaned out of my arms and
smacked him around the head. Yossie then calmed down and let the vet do
his stuff with his ears and teeth as well.

The vet reckons cats as white as the two of them are pretty uncommon, and
also reckons (given the street being the same) that they must be
connected, and thinks both may be half-pedigree for various reasons.
Perhaps a couple of litters of mistakes?

He opines that it is very likely Yossie's grey stripe will grow out, and
he will be pure white, which makes his dumping odder. Apparently, pure
white or almost so kittens are quite valuable, even if not pedigree.

He does say they can't be brothers, that Elijah's muscle development etc
means he couldn't (then) be less than 11-12 weeks old, and that Yossie
wasn't more than 8 weeks, even taking into account the malnutrition.

And, he says, someone chopped Yossie's whiskers off, they have scissor
marks on them. I just thought they were stubby (about 1/2 inch long now,
almost non-existent 10 days ago when we got him).

And Yossie's definitely "him", BTW.

The vet says he could do with more cats like Elijah, who not only stay
calm but smack others into being calm, too!

Amanda

So right!  Yesterday, TuTu who is 7 years old, was sitting on the
bathroom counter while I was "busy".  I told her that I didn't need an
audience and wished she would go elsewhere.  She then turned and
walked across the counter, reached up, turned off the light switch,
jumped down and left.  That was a first and I was amazed.

Later that morning I was playing on the computer with the Meow Mix ad
kitty and when she heard it meow she came running.  She jumped on the
desk, hunted all around the computer trying to find the source of the
meow.  After quite a while, and being frustrated at not locating the
source, she climbed on my lap, stood on her hind feet with her arms
around my neck, looked me in the face and gave a silent meow.  She has
never done this before either.  When she is on my lap, it is either on
her stomach or back.  She was clearly asking me to solve the
puzzle.MLB

I don't believe he doesn't know - because when I came in, he looked guilty
and ran away. Normally if he is eating (from his own plate) he ignores me.
Similarly, if he's beating up Yossie or scratching a door, he stops if we
see him. If he's doing something else, he doesn't!

My lovely keyboard, new a couple of months ago, succumbed to Elijah
yesterday, when he knocked a glass of cranberry juice into it. I tried
everything, and it was dead as a doornail. So now I have another lovely
new keyboard, with both cats and drinks kept away (-:

Elijah's hit a growth spurt and seems bigger every day. He's developing
muscles in his shoulders, and looks very sleek and athletic. He is much
bigger in relative terms to Yossie, who's growing much more slowly.

He's also both discovering new things all the time and teaching them to
Yossie - he hasn't tried the wine rack again after tumbling from it, but
yesterday evening he climbed rucksacks and so forth to get to sit on top
of camping equipment stashed on the top of a wardrobe, and looked very
smug.

He was also teaching Yossie to climb a blue silk thing covering a
bookcase; a lesson which was terminated PDQ when my b-f spotted it!

Both of them are currently killing a dangerous empty shampoo bottle, one
of those little ones you get in hotels.

Amanda

He does know - because he jumped down the moment he saw me!

My lovely keyboard, new a couple of months ago, succumbed to Elijah
yesterday, when he knocked a glass of cranberry juice into it. I tried
everything, and it was dead as a doornail. So now I have another lovely
new keyboard, with both cats and drinks kept away (-:

Elijah's hit a growth spurt and seems bigger every day. He's developing
muscles in his shoulders, and looks very sleek and athletic. He is much
bigger in relative terms to Yossie, who's growing much more slowly.

He's also both discovering new things all the time and teaching them to
Yossie - he hasn't tried the wine rack again after tumbling from it, but
yesterday evening he climbed rucksacks and so forth to get to sit on top
of camping equipment stashed on the top of a wardrobe, and looked very
smug.

He was also teaching Yossie to climb a blue silk thing covering a
bookcase; a lesson which was terminated PDQ when my boyfriend spotted it!

Both of them are currently killing a dangerous empty shampoo bottle, one
of those little ones you get in hotels.

Amanda

Have you done a search on the internet for Blackbeard?  He was a real
pirate in the 1700's.  His real name was Edward Teach and his ship's
name was "The Queen Anne's Revenge".

Nan