10-17-2009, 03:48 PM
I have to decide between Clark and Robyn kittens. They both have advantages and disadvantages, but overall they are very sweet and lovely kittens that I feel I have to adopt one of them. I can't adopt both, because that would make me a crazy cat lady (and would cause me logistics problems, so it's not just an image thing).
What I want is a cat to keep Hillary company that I can enjoy as well. So, primary is Hillary and I am secondary. So far, I can't really tell which one would be 'best' with Hillary as they are both really good with him but he is big and they are slightly afraid so they don't play with him. So far I have left Clark alone with Hillary (he was the front-runner) and while there are no complaints Hillary continues to seem needy so it's obvious they aren't interacting a lot together. This isn't surprising, and would very likely improve over time, but I'm going to leave Robyn alone with Hillary for a couple days to see what happens. I suspect that she will interact more with Hillary as she does seem a bit more 'social' towards her siblings. Still, as all the siblings get along so well they don't feel the need to interact as much with Hillary which makes the decision harder...
So my needs are a cat that is friendly with people, relatively quiet, not clingy (would be able to handle my travel), and able to handle other fosters. Clark *loves* other people and runs up to greet everyone, whereas Robyn will gladly cuddle in anyone's arms. Both of them are relatively quiet, although Clark has more of a tendancy to play quietly by himself. Females are often more critical of new-comers as it is a matriarchical society, but she's used to other cats and still young so I can keep introducing new animals to make her more social (this is routine with dogs). My initial biggest problem with Robyn was that she seemed to be less healthy as I had problems with her (which made me less favourable towards her) but those seem to have resolved themselves as she grew up so that's why I'm seriously considering her now. The other big concern is that Robyn may be more clingy and less tolerant of my travels, but we'll see how she does with Hillary in the next couple days. Ideally he would be enough of a play-mate for her.
Advantages that I have found after spending more time with Robyn:
1. Little girl is smart, and much smarter than Clark. He's sweet, but I taught her about treats (not eating out of the food dish is an oddity for them), coming for treats when I whistle, and how to use the spare room swinging door all in a few minutes. Clark still hasn't figured any of them out after several attempts.
2. I was worried about Robyn's washroom habits as I had problems when she was younger, but thank goodness she seems to have completely grown out of those. Three weeks and no problems.
3. She's about as sweet with Hillary as Clark is, so there's no big differentiator there.
4. In an unlikely turn of events, she isn't clingy like Clark. He's always glued on me, whereas she amuses herself while I'm in another room. This has changed since they were young. She loves to be picked up and loves a good snuggle, but doesn't seem to *need* it the same way.
Any outside advice on the topic would be greatly appreciated. Obviously I'm quite conflicted right now!
Small bonus... One of my coworkers has a brother who recently lost his cat. The coworker met the kittens at the picnic and made it quite clear that I should let him know if/when Clark became available for adoption. He's willing to concede that I can adopt him, no problem, but if I don't then the personality would suit his brother perfectly and would be perfect timing for his brother.
What I want is a cat to keep Hillary company that I can enjoy as well. So, primary is Hillary and I am secondary. So far, I can't really tell which one would be 'best' with Hillary as they are both really good with him but he is big and they are slightly afraid so they don't play with him. So far I have left Clark alone with Hillary (he was the front-runner) and while there are no complaints Hillary continues to seem needy so it's obvious they aren't interacting a lot together. This isn't surprising, and would very likely improve over time, but I'm going to leave Robyn alone with Hillary for a couple days to see what happens. I suspect that she will interact more with Hillary as she does seem a bit more 'social' towards her siblings. Still, as all the siblings get along so well they don't feel the need to interact as much with Hillary which makes the decision harder...
So my needs are a cat that is friendly with people, relatively quiet, not clingy (would be able to handle my travel), and able to handle other fosters. Clark *loves* other people and runs up to greet everyone, whereas Robyn will gladly cuddle in anyone's arms. Both of them are relatively quiet, although Clark has more of a tendancy to play quietly by himself. Females are often more critical of new-comers as it is a matriarchical society, but she's used to other cats and still young so I can keep introducing new animals to make her more social (this is routine with dogs). My initial biggest problem with Robyn was that she seemed to be less healthy as I had problems with her (which made me less favourable towards her) but those seem to have resolved themselves as she grew up so that's why I'm seriously considering her now. The other big concern is that Robyn may be more clingy and less tolerant of my travels, but we'll see how she does with Hillary in the next couple days. Ideally he would be enough of a play-mate for her.
Advantages that I have found after spending more time with Robyn:
1. Little girl is smart, and much smarter than Clark. He's sweet, but I taught her about treats (not eating out of the food dish is an oddity for them), coming for treats when I whistle, and how to use the spare room swinging door all in a few minutes. Clark still hasn't figured any of them out after several attempts.
2. I was worried about Robyn's washroom habits as I had problems when she was younger, but thank goodness she seems to have completely grown out of those. Three weeks and no problems.
3. She's about as sweet with Hillary as Clark is, so there's no big differentiator there.
4. In an unlikely turn of events, she isn't clingy like Clark. He's always glued on me, whereas she amuses herself while I'm in another room. This has changed since they were young. She loves to be picked up and loves a good snuggle, but doesn't seem to *need* it the same way.
Any outside advice on the topic would be greatly appreciated. Obviously I'm quite conflicted right now!
Small bonus... One of my coworkers has a brother who recently lost his cat. The coworker met the kittens at the picnic and made it quite clear that I should let him know if/when Clark became available for adoption. He's willing to concede that I can adopt him, no problem, but if I don't then the personality would suit his brother perfectly and would be perfect timing for his brother.
