Baby Grows Up (Return of the Crazy Cat Lady)

I think Snickers may be part-fox, judging from these ears.

Last night at about 3 in the morning, my bed-partner and I were in our usual conditions for that hour (me, splat on my back and dead to the world; Snick, curled up under my arm with the tip of his tail in his mouth, fast asleep) when all of a sudden he sat bolt-upright. He's usually the most sedentary of sleepers, so the motion woke me up too.

He started making the gacky-face; tongue darting in and out, eyes squinched shut, looking like he was trying to spit out something unpleasant. If you've ever given a baby something sour, you know the gacky-face's human equivalent.

Of course, paranoid cat-owner that I am, I was instantly worried. Did he eat a spider? (We've had a minor infestation lately, including The Biggest Damn Spider I've Ever Seen--about whom more later.) Did he swallow a feather from one of my cheap-ass pillows that's now stuck in his throat? Or does he just have a piece of fur caught in his tongue?

He hopped off the bed and stood in front of the closed door, still making gack-face, still trying to clear whatever it was. When I bent down to look, I couldn't see anything immediately, so I picked him up and put him on the bed and opened his mouth and stuck in a finger, which (being a normal cat) he promptly bit. He looked at me, very calm, and said "Ptooey."

There, on the blanket, was a very small, very pointy baby tooth.

Snick had a short bath, put the tip of his tail back in his mouth, and went to sleep; apparently, this growing-up stuff is exhausting work for a little cat. Of course, by the time I was ready to go to work this morning he'd turned back into Butthead the Wonder-Kitty:



I've mentioned, haven't I, that I adore this little devil? (Also, take note of our good friend BadCat, sitting on the table in the foreground, looking innocent--or at least, as innocent as a cat can look, especially a cat with glowing eyes. BadCat has evolved into the sedate elder statesman of the house--of course, that may be because he's put on a bit of cat-fat in recent months and can't leap as nimbly as he could when he was a lithe young tiger.)

I found out yesterday that Snick's momma-cat has had another litter. I was sorely tempted, but I reasoned that a second Snick might be Too Much Of A Good Thing.