OT: Cheeto Chronicles Cont'd. -- LONG

[Tia Mary]

Hello All,
So Cheeto is settling nicely at DD's and doing a wonderful job of
being a kitten :-). When Raechel saw him, I told her that **HE** was
her special Christmas gift and she was thrilled. DD told me that a bit
later, she said that she was going to very sad when GrandMother went
home and took Cheeto with her! DD said that when she told Raechel that
Cheeto was HER cat and would be living with them forever, the little one
started to cry because she was so surprised. She has been very diligent
in feeding him and cleaning out the cat box, too!
Now, let's not forget that there is a dog to be introduced to
Cheeto. He had gotten a look at Aspen (the GranDOGhter) and sat on our
bed, got a puffy tail and hissed a bit. I went into the Family Room
with him and sat next to DD. Aspen came and sat on the other side of
DD and Cheeto just rumbled a bit. Aspen walked off and a bit later, DD
asked if she could hold Cheeto.
Unfortunately, while DD was holding Cheeto, she wondered where Aspen
was and called for the dog. WRONG THING TO DO!!!!!!! Aspen came
bounding in to the Family Room and Cheeto went ballistic! Not being
familiar with DD yet, he panicked and tried to get away from her,
scratching her on the chest badly. I jumped up and took him from her,
thinking he might calm down a bit if I had him. NO WAY JOSE'!!! He
ended up scratching me on both hands, both forearms and biting my thumb
before attaching himself to my HEAD! I kid you not -- LOLOL! You
should have seen me trotting down the hallway to our bedroom with a
wriggling, hissing, panicked nine pound lump of kitten attached to my
head with all four appendages!
I got Cheeto off my head and once he was on my bed -- all puffed up
and looking like a Persian -- he gave me such a look saying he was
sorry. I told him he was VERY naughty for trying to scalp his
GrandMother and he turned his back to me and showed me his "nether
regions"!!! By this time, DD is cleaning up the trail of blood I have
left down the hallway and then gets out the first aid supplies. I
cleaned and disinfected her chest wound and she did the same for my
arms. The problem was my head. You have to be very careful with cat
bites and scratches because of the germs from the cat litter they always
have their feet and hands in. Also, their saliva can be very germy due
to all the cleaning of those "nether regions" that they do!
Anywhoooo -- DD has a few packaged alcohol wipes which she uses on
the bloody in my head. She then sprayed my owies with spray
disinfectant and I was "good to go". Problem now is that I had planned
on washing my hair that afternoon before going to get out family photos
taken with the SMDGD. Obviously, that didn't happen. I decided to wait
until the HUGE scabs on my head dried out and started to come off of
their own accord. Unfortunately, that would have taken too long so I
waited 3 or 4 day for everything to heal fairly well and then washed my
hair. It's a good thing I have long hair and wear it pulled back from
my face in a ponytail or a bun -- LOLOL!
Once I washed my hair, I discovered that I had about EIGHT huge
gouges on my scalp. I'm still waiting for the longest one (DH says it's
about 1 1/2" long) to quit hurting. I must brush my hair very carefully
so that I don't pull the scabs off!!!!!
Once all of that hullabaloo was finished, Cheeto settled in quite
nicely. He stole only two ornaments off the tree. DD made sure to put
unimportant, plastic ones down in cat range. He keeps stealing R's
socks and small toys too :-). He had several hissing & chasing sessions
with poor Aspen who thinks they are playing. DD told me on the phone
tonight that they sniffed each other's butt this evening with no
problems at all so THAT is a big deal. A few months from now they will
be bosom buddies, I am sure.
While DH and I were in Las Vegas, DD told me that she learned that
Cheeto likes gingerbread :-))))). Seems she thought he wouldn't be
interested so she put the gingerbread men cookies on a plate in the
middle of the table wrapped in plastic wrap. The next morning, she
found the plastic wrap on the floor and each and every gingerbread man
(I think there were 7 or 8) was laying on the plate with NO HEADS :-))).
The little brat cat -- the Kitten from Hell -- had eaten all the
heads off -- LOLOL! They couldn't blame Aspen because she spends the
night in her kennel.
Cheeto has also take to climbing onto Steven's dresser and stealing
the cork stopper out of the big jar he keeps loose change in. Every
time Steven puts that stopper back, it ends up in the middle of the
hallway within a few hours. I keep telling them that ***everything***
is a toy to this cat so if they don't want him taking it, they had
better make sure it's too heavy for him to pick up in his mouth or it's
shut away in a drawer someplace.
Fortunately, there have been NO litter box accidents. Unfortunately,
Cheeto still thinks it's a place to play and he has litter scattered all
over the floor. Of course, it's much easier to pick up scattered litter
than it is to pick up what he leaves IN the litter so DD isn't
complaining too much.
The best part is the bond that is already forming between Cheeto and
Raechel. She was ecstatic when he let her pick him up and carry him
around on the very first day :-). He sleeps with her at night and
attacks her hands and feet when they move under the covers :-). She
thinks this is wonderful until it happens in the middle of the night --
LOLOL! DD said that she came into their room several nights in a row
saying that Cheeto needed to go sleep somewhere else because he was
purring too loudly and keeping her awake or attacking her feet and
waking her up :-).
I will admit I miss the sweet parts but not the naughty parts.
Having a kitty to come purr in your ear when you sleep at night is
wonderful. Having that same kitty attack your feet every time you turn
over in bed at night is NOT fun :-). All in all, I'm quite glad to have
him settling in so well at DD's. There is absolutely NO WAY that the
SMDGD would ever allow DD to get rid of Cheeto now. He is HER cat -- as
she loudly proclaims to everyone within hearing range -- and she vows to
take care of him and teach him, etc. as best she can. Seeing the look
on her face when she realized that Cheeto was HER kitten made all of the
misery of the last five months worth it -- as I was sure it would be.
Having Cheeto be attached to Steven is icing on the cake. Steven
says that every time he sits in his recliner, Cheeto is right there
waiting for him to put his feet up and get a blanket. Before Steven is
even settled, Cheeto is up in his lap, "circling his wagons", purring
light a buzz saw and settling down for a nice, long nap. Steven finally
said that Cheeto wasn't such a bad cat after all :-).
So everything is coming along nicely at DD's and all is well with
Cheeto. I'm sure there will be more stories as time goes on and the cat
and dog get to be friends. Hope everyone is having a nice holiday &
CiaoMeow >^;;^<

PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties)
Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about
their whiskers!
Visit my Photo albums at http://community.webshots.com/user/tiamary

[Tia Mary]

lucreti...@fl.it wrote:
> Does your SIL refer to you as the MIL from Hell ?

No, he never has. It's HIS mother that we call the MIL from hell.
Since Steven's Dad passed away early in the year, she has changed quite
a bit. Probably because she realizes she needs the kids to help her
with stuff and knows if she isn't at least moderately civil, they won't
be as willing! Regardless, she was quite pleasant during the holidays
and I think she actually appreciated the gifts DH brought back from
Sweden that we gave her! CiaoMeow >^;;^<