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| 31 December 2021. 17 weeks old. |
Since margaretmlin.com is set to self-destruct, I thought I would do a little recap on Finley here.
My husband and I adopted him at the beginning of November, when he was 10 weeks old, from Cat Adoption Team.
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| 10 November 2021. 10 weeks old. |
At around eight weeks of age, he had been placed in foster care through CAT with his four littermates, transferred from a humane society some 250 miles away. All of his siblings were adopted by Instagram followers of his human foster mom except Finley, then named Mickey. His profile popped up on CAT’s website when we decided to look at the adoptable cats and kittens “just for fun.”
His CAT profile:
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| 14 November 2021. 10 weeks old. |
Finley is my first kitten, so figuring things out has been a work in progress. This has involved a lot trial and error in a short amount of time. I’ve sifted through books, website articles, videos, and forums, provided by various experts, businesses trying to sell something, as well as random cat owners. I’ve found, not surprisingly, that much of the advice and recommendations are anecdotal. And both correct and incorrect information get amplified on the internet.
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| 5 December 2021. 13 weeks old. |
Eventually, I managed to solve some conundrums, like how best to set up the litter boxes*. But pretty much everything is a moving target as Finley continues to grow and develop.
That said, Finley remains a mellow, sweet fellow, just as his foster mom described him. We’re so delighted that he’s part of our family.
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| 12 January 2022. 19 weeks old. |
His current top five toys:
- repurposed sheet of parachute-type material
- cat tunnel
- Boinks
- cardboard scratcher-lounger
- ball tower
*In the unlikely event that you’re interested, here’s the scoop (pun intended) on my litter box saga:
I have two litter boxes, one on each level of our home. Both are in bathrooms. Having them in other living spaces turned out to be a dust disaster.
I went with open stainless steel litter boxes measuring 23” x 15” x 6”, and a PetFusion silicone mat to try and trap some of the litter scatter. The mat works fairly well; the alternatives don’t appeal to me for various reasons. I have a Dirt Devil hand vac which I use during my litter rounds to pick up litter from the mat and surrounding floor.
Each bathroom also has a small Blueair air purifier to deal with the dust.
I use an iPrimio scooper, which is supposed to effectively trap waste while allowing “clean” litter to fall through. I’m not sure it’s better than another scooper I got first, but I’m continuing to use it. I have a supply of “environmentally friendly” litter bags. The scooper (covered by a bag) and bags are stored under the sink in the vanity cabinet in one of the bathrooms.
I use Boxicat litter. It appears to have significantly less dust than Dr. Elsey’s, which I tried first.