The Checkerboard Kittens: Picatso, Pablo, Catisse, and Catson

Picatso, Catisse, and Catson

The Checkerboard Kittens were some of the most feral kittens we’d ever seen. They were found on Bowen Island and they had never seen humans before.

The information we received about the kittens when picking them up from the Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association (VOKRA) operations center was not promising. They had bitten and scratched every volunteer they met so far.

When we got them home, Picatso tried a few swats, so I put on a pair of gardening gloves and continued to pat her. When whapping didn’t get the desired response (the rapid removal of a human hand), she quickly abandoned that strategy, and none of the others tried it on with me (they were not actually violent cats; they were just freaked out because their first encounters with humans at the operations center involved the administration of medical treatments).

Catson hugs Picatso in the kitten hammock

Picatso, a little feline work of art with a permanent smile, arrived with her name, so the others received artist names to create a matched set. Feisty Picatso and her laid back brother were the best of friends, so he was named Pablo (the artist Picasso’s first name). Catisse was then named for Matisse and Catson for Jackson Pollock.

Pablo

The Checkerboard Kittens were going to be a hard sell to potential adopters because they were so terrified of people that they often howled like a four-alarm siren when a strange human entered their room. They (grudgingly) allowed me to hold them from day two, but everyone else triggered total panic, and Catisse was particularly inclined to go nuclear, launching off people and leaving bloody scratches in his wake (he never scratched anyone on purpose; people were just collateral damage in his panicked escapes).

The Stroppy Little Madame

On the plus side, the kittens did have a few things going for them. They were very clean and healthy because they’d had the opportunity to stay with their mother until old enough to be weaned (kittens separated from their moms before eight weeks usually have a lot of health problems and are often filthy because they haven’t developed good grooming skills). The Checkerboard Kittens were also very attractive.

First hold with Catson

Picatso looked as though someone had deliberately painted her. She had a perfect half-black, half-white face, with a matching two-toned smile. Catisse had a fancy moustache and when he put his front legs together, his black markings formed a heart. Catson had a half-moustache and a variety of charming cow cat markings, and Pablo was black with tabby ghost markings and green eyes.

First hold with Picatso

The kittens soon acquired new nicknames based on their personalities. Pablo was Joe Cool because he was the most laid back and tolerant of the bunch, and incredibly gentle; even when he tried to escape a hold, he was very careful to avoid accidentally scratching anyone. Catisse and Catson were Tragicat and Sadlycat because they were so miserable during their first days with us (Catisse would run away and cower, and Catson, who had no fight in him, would just collapse and cringe when petted). Picatso was the Stroppy Little Madame, because she was dominant, bold, and very good at getting her own way.

First hold with Pablo

The first time I heard a kitten scream, I turned around in a panic, expecting to see a horrible injury, but it was just Picatso expressing her outrage that her brothers dared to eat while she was still eating. She liked to eat first, and they were allowed to nibble at the edges of the big dish but not put their heads right over it into the center as she did. If they encroached on what she considered her territory, she would scream, whap, and do mock lunges, snapping her jaws at them (this was unusual behaviour; most young kittens from the same litter are happy to share a dish). During one of her rages, she sunk her front feet into the center of the food so she could block it entirely with her body. It was hilarious to watch, and amazingly, her brothers didn’t seem to hold it against her. She eventually calmed down about the food once she realized that we were going to deliver it at regular intervals.

First hold with Catisse

Our foster kittens are started off in a large kitten cage so that we can keep an eye on them to identify any health issues and ensure that they’re using the litter box appropriately. If we find that they’re healthy and have good litter box habits, they’re given increasingly long out-of-the-cage run privileges as they grow friendlier, and eventually we give them the whole office as their territory and runs of the rest of the house when we’re around to supervise.

Foster kittens hanging out with resident cat Sage

Usually within a week or so, the main problem I have with foster kittens is that it’s challenging to get any work done because they all want to pile on my lap, but these kittens took ages to make their first cautious approaches. We did regular holds to get them over their phobia, and I eventually got purrs from everyone. After about a month, they realized that they loved to be held and petted, but it took much longer for this group than for any other set of kittens we’ve fostered (and I’ve cared for well over 100 kittens, many of them ferals, over the years).

Catson realizes he likes to be held

Eventually they became lap cats (though Catson still had to be placed there to remind him that he actually liked it, after which he would start purring). Catisse proved to be surprisingly friendly, a talkative, manic, clever little cat who liked to sit on the back of my chair while I worked, but he still showed terribly with new people. Two sets of potential adopters rejected the kittens for not being friendly enough.

Catisse and Picatso showing off their markings

I wondered if potential adopters thought I was making up stories about their friendliness with me just to shift them, so I filmed videos of the kittens purring on my lap to prove they were capable of becoming loving little cats once they had bonded. Unfortunately, I filmed the videos while watching the Simpsons’ medieval episode, so there were references to letting the elderly die of neglect and a fictional venereal disease called Genital Smurfs in the background (not really the sort of sound bites I want to have in a wholesome adoption video). We wiped the sound before we posted the videos (I considered slapping some Mozart overtop of it to give our kittens an aura of high culture, but we were too busy to crank the video up to a high-brow level, so it went out soundless).

Big yawn

Fortunately, a lovely couple who really understood cats and were willing to put in the time required for bonding came to see Picatso and Pablo and fell in love with them. Picatso was a cuddly cat with me by that point, but she still kept her distance with new people. To our surprise, she actually allowed the prospective adopters to pat her during this visit, and Pablo, though also cautious, was quick to come out and play, so it was obvious that they really liked these people. The couple weren’t put off by the howling of the more fraidy kittens (we ended up putting Catisse and Catson in another room during the visit because they kept crying with fear and upsetting the other two kittens). I knew by their sympathetic reaction to the kittens’ fears that these adopters had the cat-smarts required to bond with scaredy cats.

Mustache cat selfie

Picatso and Pablo were adopted soon after and did wonderfully in their new home, but we were very worried about the other two. We’d managed to find a dream placement for their siblings, the sort of adopters all fosters hope for, but what were the odds of finding another dream placement for kittens that would require even more socialization work? It would have to be someone who really understood cats, who would be patient and not take offense if the kittens didn’t bond immediately, someone willing to take them on as an ongoing project. Fortunately, a friend was up to the challenge, and the boys have grown more comfortable with her every day. At the time of this writing, they have reached the point of allowing themselves to be petted and choosing to spend their time in the same room as their human companion whenever possible, even jumping up on the sofa beside her.

Accidental deployment of the zoom lens provokes a defensive left hook

We were very happy to see these four find such excellent homes. Perhaps being more challenging actually helped them in the long run; they were with us for longer, but when they did get placed, it was with devoted pet owners who really understand cats.

Catisse snuggles with resident cat Sage

We’ll be taking a break from fostering for a few months to give our resident cats some time to have us all to themselves. They’re wonderful about the fostering, not only accepting these random kitten invasions, but actively helping by grooming and nurturing our little charges and teaching them feline etiquette. However, it’s not fair to make them share us all the time. We’ll likely resume fostering in the summer of this year.