Kitten Kerfuffle
Introducing the newest member to our family: Jiji!
If you follow K and/or I on social media, I’m sure you’ve already heard plenty about Jiji, but he’s certainly worth an official introduction! You can find the summary of why we adopted him here. He’s a 5-month-old one-eyed kitten who’s way too brave and playful for his own good, yet he loves sleeping while hugging onto someone’s limb. Konstantin and Peter have both adjusted to him extremely well, and the three off them cuddle and play together 24/7.
The reason for the medication in the comic* is that he had a secondary infection from his eye surgery that went unnoticed until we adopted him. The “how we found THAT out” story is worth a comic unto itself and I’ll leave it at that for now. No worries, though, because he’s recovering like an adorable demon and all seems to be on the mend. Y’know, except for not having his left eye. That’s not coming back.
I hope you guys wind up loving Jiji just as much as we do! In the meantime, here’s some photos (and a video) of the lil’ guy to get your kitten fix in:
*Despite the comic struggle, K and I have both had cats all of our lives and know how to handle troublesome medication dosings, which only take about 10 seconds. He hasn’t missed a drop of it and only hates us for about 5 minutes after the event. And no, we don’t need advice on methods (thanks all the same!), we have our cat-burrito technique down to a science. It’s been a long time since we’ve had to cope with a cat that hates medicine, Konstantin had us spoiled with his “I don’t care what it is, just stick it into my open mouth” policy on offered items. Jiji is apparently savvy to this whole antibiotic thing after Round 1 in the shelter and acts like a whirling dervish with claws.
EEEEEEEEE 😀
Both my cats HATE meds, but one is easily fooled. (Thankfully, the homicidal claw machine is the one who will take pills without a fuss!)
They need to be pilled twice a day, which is fantastic for Zuul, since she *loves* chicken-flavored Greenies pill pockets. She thinks it’s a special treat, and demands it loudly whenever any of us g into the master bathroom, where pilling is done. She’ll just snorfle them up.
Bastian, on the other hand, is a clever little goober — he has figured out how to use his tongue to basically strip all the Pill Pocket-y goodness off the pill, and then spit out the clean pill.
We’ve finally figured out that wrapping it in the thinnest possible layer (like, a quarter of a pill pocket) means that he’s most likely to just shrug and eat it — and if he does, he gets the unused portion afterward as a treat. But he is FAR too good at faking that he’s taken his meds, so we have to keep a close eye on him when the pill is in his mouth!
I love my little buttheads, even though they’re a little high-maintenance sometimes 😉
Jiji is *darling*, I think it’s awesome that you guys went looking for a cat who might not otherwise find a home, and he seems like such a little sweetheart. I’m so glad that he’s helping smooth out the Cat Politics in your house, and that your two older boys are happy to have him around (except when he barrels into Konstantin in the video, hah!)
Fancy meeting you here, Gorgeous. You have just confirmed that you have excellent taste. That and Bastian is still quite the dapper fellow.
Holy balls… that’s no cat, THAT’S A NIGHT-FURY!
yes!!!
*Night-furry
😀 Aww, adorable Jiji! Am I right in guessing you named him after Jiji in Kiki’s Delivery Service?
Holy kitten! That second photo of Jiji is adorable! <3
Your story of the medicine reminded me of an old blog post that to this day makes me laugh. A guy takes his kitten to the vat for the first time, and it gets interesting. http://thelawdogfiles.blogspot.com/2008/07/arrgghh.html
oh my god that link was hilarious. “I can haz artery, #@*&#!!” totally made my morning
That was hilarious and I love it! XD
daaaaaw hes like a little war vetran oooooor a PIRATE! oh now im thinking of costumes (aka the felines sworn enemy)
D’aw, a vicious cutie. Funny enough tho my sisters nickname is Jiji (it means sister in our language). *goes back to being a lurker reader*
He is so cute. He looks like my kitten Neko, she is 7-8 months old and is all black accept for two white whiskers.
ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh!!! this post was AWESOME, loved every. single. bit. !
And I totally get what it was like (and no, I wont offer any advice on how to 🙂 ), that last frame was the BEST depiction of what’s it like to give an uncooperative cat meds.
You guys are awesome! And this here, what you did, is just one tiny part of your awesomeness.
Fury the Cat! Give Jiji an eyepatch! 😀
I watched the video. Is that the burn-y game noises I hear in the background? Where you just burn a whole lot of things in the fireplace?
Did you name Jiji after the Jiji in Kiki’s Delivery Service?
…also, what song is that?
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! 😀
Jiji is so CUTE! YES PLEASE, MORE CAT-RELATED ANTICS AND WACKY HIJINKS!
Aw, that’s adorable.
I just adopted a new cat a few months back myself. A little older, but a rescue, with some medical problems.
They grow on you so fast.
Omg. I had a one eyed black cat (technically she still had the eye, she was just born sans retina in that eye). She did a weird head bobble thing to judge distance.
Awww Jiji AND Haku!! Someone’s been on a Miazaki binge!
We have 3 black cats. This looks like our smallest one, Ada Lovelace (well, Ada has both eyes, but you get it).
Drowning in cute. What a precious baby!
Oh my gosh he’s soooooo cute!
Am I the only one who heard the Circle of Life theme in the background while looking at the first panel? O_o
PS Can’t wait for the Meet the Cats comic for Jiji. n____n
We rescued my cat from a parking lot in our apartments, he was barely a few days old and had been abandoned by his mother and siblings. My dad got him out from under a car and named him Critter since we couldn’t tell his gender. We raised him like a normal kitten and tried to play with him lots only to find out (after he ran full-tilt into walls constantly and almost knocked himself out) that he’s almost completely blind. We think he can see light and dark but can’t make out anything definite. Now he’s way overweight and we can’t get him to lose it (he weighs 22lbs) but he’s as happy as can be :3 And he may have no vision but he still has the psychic cat-sense that tells them exactly where to go in order to be in the way of everything.
Ugh, what is this? A NORMAL slice-of-life comic? One that people don’t rant and rave and start long philosophical arguments over?
Terrible, I say, just terrible.
😛
Ah, cat burrito, what would we do without you?
SQUEE! SO CUTE! You really hit on the gold standard for “unadoptable” cats: one-eyed and black. I volunteer at an animal rescue, and our black cats simply don’t get adopted. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve watched come into the rescue who completely ignore all our black cats. Some of them straight up tell us that they just don’t like black cats. It’s a real shame because they are absolutely wonderful kitties.
Thank you for adopting a disabled black cat! Black cats get no love because of superstition and I just don’t get it. They are wonderful. Your little guy seem awesome, just like my Suki was.
Again, thanks.
What a cutie! And I’m loving that Queens of the Stone Age in the background!
Your new family member reminds me a lot of a book called “Homer’s Odyssey.” (no, not the original!) It’s about a little black cat who loses both his eyes, but he manages to become one of the most eccentric and amazing pets the author has ever had. It’s inspiring, I encourage EVERYONE to go look it up! It’s by Gwen Cooper.
A lovely addition to your family. And a great choice of background music for the video – Queens of The Stoneage = love it!
Could you give us a update on how the other cats are adjusting to the new kitten? And good on you guys for taking in a disabled cat. I’m sure Jiji is going to have lots of love for a long time now.
Thank you and sure! They’re all doing great, actually! Konstantin has been glued to the kitten since the moment he arrived and seems to enjoy “babysitting” him. They love to chase each other and wrestle around, so all’s well for them! Peter was not thrilled for the first couple of days (lots of hissing and growling, no lashing out), but his curiosity got the better of him in the end. Jiji always did the polite thing when Peter threw a fit by collapsing dramatically on the ground and letting Peter sniff him. Now Peter likes him just fine! They don’t play together, it’s mostly an “existing in the same area” relationship, but Peter has mysteriously become much more social to us. I can’t really say why.
All in all, Jiji has brought a weird sort of peace to the place, so we’re all very happy.
Awesome. I had that kind of reaction from when I use to foster cats. My oldest, Peaches would do the customary 900 hisses before just accepting his fate.
You’re listening to QotSA in the video!! My respect for you guys couldn’t have gotten any bigger but it just did.
wtf, I came to check on chaoslife after being reminded of you by a reddit post about a guy who found a one-eyed cat. is it one-eyed cat day what is happening
Heee iiiis sooo cuuute!!! I’m a total and complete sucker for sob story cats, to the point where I’ll purposely look for the “heart” icons on our local shelter pets (on the website, which designate special needs cats – anything from a special diet to diseases or physical disabilities) just so I can go visit and play with those cats specifically.
He is so darn cute!!!
I love yall even more for taking in a disabled kitty. Although he probably doesn’t even realize that something is abnormal with him, many people would pass him up because he isn’t perfect.
PS, I get SUPER excited whenever I see that the comic is about cats. I expect even more cat comics now that there is a goofy kitten in the mix.
Guys! I think you adopted one of my kitties by accident! Looks, reactions…all the same… even the missing eye is the correct one O.O my kittie has a long lost twin… XD
JAJAJAJAJJA CAT BURRITO XD
WELL IM FROM VENEZUELA AND WHEN SOMTHING IS TOO HARD TO DO WE SAY “ES MAS DIFICIL QUE DARLE UNA PASTILLA A UN GATO” WHISH MEAN “IS SO HARD AS MAKE A CAT SWALOW A PIL”
Bizarre — I just got a black cat too! I was close to naming her Jiji, but she’s a girl. So we went with Kiki. She’s 4 months old and just as crazy.
BABY!!
Slight side tangent: I’m a cat person, and my mom is too. She’s also a veterinarian. I love seeing people adopt “broken” kitties because they have so much love to give, but they’re the ones who get overlooked just because they’re missing something. Frequently my mom brought home cats from the clinic that were disabled because no one else would take them. I’m glad to see your tiny demon found such a good home.
Also if I may make a vote I for one would like to see the kitty in an itty bitty eye patch.
A few years back me and my parents got our cat Raisin, a black cat with a little patch of white on her chest and extra toes, from a local humane society where she had been born. Recently we had to try and get her to take pills because she was having a hard time digesting food due to an inflammation (I think that’s what it was, I’m not entirely sure) in her bowls. I’d never had to deal with a sick cat before, and our previous cat Zeke who lived to be an impressive 18 years old never got sick prior to his death so I guess you could say we were spoiled by him. Raisin was a nightmare to get to hold still. She’d be squirming all over the place, trying to bite us or claw at us, but we eventually did it, and now she’s almost as good as new! 😀
D’aww, what cute little baby. I wanna squish. It’s a good thing he got adopted. I can’t imagine how hard it’d be for the poor lil kitteh out in the wild, where good depth perception can mean the difference between a full tummy and an empty one.
He’s so adorable! I have two one eyed furbabies and they’re doing great! Got Iris and Captain from a rescue where the guy who was a hoarder (had 75-100 cats on wooded property in the sticks) and they had various respiratory infections (herpes in cats usually manifests in an eye infection, which both my boy and girl had plus her kittens had too, but they were able to save the kitten’s eyes). They wanted them to be adopted together and now they’re adorable death claw machines too ^___^
we all love messing with our cats
-vid
Yay for cats, and also yay for Queens of the Stone Age 😀
I know this is a late reply, but I wanted to say thank you and bless you for taking in that adorable baby! My black old man Bonsai passed a few years ago. But it has been a whole year now since three new monsters came into our lives thanks to a spirit grabbing my steering wheel and turning into a parking lot I had no intentions of stopping at. (Angel, spirit, guide, whatever they are I thank them.) A mother who was still a kitten herself had three little ones. I am happy to say mom and kittens are now fixed, vaccinated, healthy, and happy. The mom went to an elderly friend and I “fostered” the kittens while looking for homes. (Who was I kidding?) Two of them are grey tabby and one is black. He was so sick and malnourished that he almost didn’t make it. Even today he has a few problems the vet attributed to a lack of nutrition during brain development. “Sammy,” is now a sleek ball of energy and full of life and love. Interestingly, we have another cat with neurological problems, (vet called it kitty MS), and the two “special” boys can frequently be found snuggled together. Sammy was just now watching the video of Jiji! Thank you again for proving that sometimes love comes in unusual packages!
Wait a second;
Jiji?
Do I detect a possible reference to Kiki’s Delivery Service?
Well I just read a few pages ahead to get caught up and uh,
Well,
Now I just feel silly for posting this after that other page was made.