Moomin is my new addition to the family. His nicknames are Boomin’ Moomin, Monkey Boy, Monkey Butt, Mr. Monkey, Bunny Monkey, Mr. Boy, Butt Munch, Busy Boy, Moo, Cricket, Squirt, Smurf, and Wildman.
I was lucky and got to see him the day after he was born (he was black and grey at that point) and then watch the milestones: his eyes open, his ears become ears, witness his first hiss/spit, start walking, start romping, and problem-solve his way out of an enclosure. I brought him home the day he turned exactly 11 weeks old.
Now he is all black with very short fur. If he sits in strong light, you can see faint tabby markings, almost like a faint shadow of them. He’s quite an elegant looking cat when he sits up straight – long neck and nice bone structure. Then when you see him walk, run, jump, and romp he loses his elegance and becomes quite goofy-cute with a barrel belly, silly tail (very thin at the end and fat at the rump), and bow-legged prance with big honking floppy feet. When he runs fast, he resembles one of those red-neck jacked up trucks where the back of the truck sticks up higher than the front. Moomin has huge double paws; 7 peds on his front feet which resemble mittened hands and 6 peds on his back feet which just look BIG. He has this sort of “troll look” when his eyes are not alert or open all the way. His whiskers, nose, and peds are all black as well. His eyes really haven’t settled into a certain color, mostly orange-ish right now.
Moomin’s favorite positions are 1) the sprawl: when he sleeps he stretches WAY out and is all over everything he sleeps on (pillow, Doodle, blanket, flower cushion, etc), 2) the hide-n-peek – this is where he crouches behind anything and everything and peers over whatever it may be in preparation for jumping on Hobbes or Doodle or a toy, 3) the somersault – typically engaged in when he is playing with a toy, and 4) the sitting cute – he does this before he does something he is not supposed to do; like chew on a electric cord or my hair, bite me or the other cats, and jump in the sink.
Moomin’s day involves periods of frantic activity of the Energizer bunny-type alternated with periods of dead sleep. When he’s playing, he’s playing constantly. There is no time he is not moving, jumping, pouncing, rolling around, biting, running, skating on the bathtub or sink, climbing the cat tree/curtains/ bedcovers/clothes, leaping straight up in the air, dancing sideways with his back arched, and chasing toys or other cats. He loves to leap on the other cats and tries to wrestle with them. He is fascinated with the bathtub and sink – he brings his toys in the tub to play with them in there and he likes to try to dig his way to China in the sink. I have to cover the tub drain with something heavy as he has walked off with the drain cover one day and I couldn’t find it for two days when it suddenly appeared in the middle of the dining room carpet. I’m waiting for my toothbrushes to disappear.
His favorite toys are sparkly craft pompoms, bunny fur mice, Mardi Gras necklaces, teeny beanies, paper towel tubes, plastic circles, a sea sponge, and a rope with knots in it. He especially likes the pile of tissue paper in the middle of the dining room – this is good for peeking around, racing thru, wrestling with toy, and snacking on pieces that have been ripped off. Sometimes he will fall asleep on my lap, but mostly he will first start his sleeping stint on the back of one of the couches, in his flower cushion, the window seat napper, the kitty condo, or the blanket covered crate by the sliding glass door. Eventually he will come over to my lap and lay on Doodle – who totally lets him do this when he is sleepy and calm. I recently caught the two of them sleeping together on the window napper and in the Chair of Death. Doodle was cubed into a square shape and Moomin was in the shape of a triangle. I remember thinking: Doodle cubed + Moomin to the 3rd power = infinite furry goodness. Moomin’s jobs are to listen to the bigger cats, not destroy anything, keep out of the plants, no biting, and to keep his nap places cozy. He is most definitely a monkey butt boy and well loved.
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