jenniferword

Kitten brothers Julius and Tal are five weeks old here. Tal loves his little mouse toy. He won't let anybody have it. But his owner distracts him just long enough, his brother, Julius, sneaks up behind him and steals his mouse toy!! Oh well, in the end, Tal decides he's happier playing with his human Auntie anyway. Too adorable!!

Julius is on a roll for being silly today. What a crazy kitty!!!! He's exactly one month old here. What a cutie!!!

This is Tal, the kitten. Tal is exactly three months old today, in fact, 11/19/2019. Tal thinks he's being super sneaky by hiding in a blanket, but maybe he's actually just really tired and taking a cat nap! Adorable.

Once Halloween is over, Winter Holiday decorations are fair game to put up. Heck, some people don't even wait for Halloween to be over. This is a fake, six foot tall Douglas Fir tree inside of a modest home in the Midwest, in the far North Eastern corner of Kansas, for the sake of properly setting the scene. And, yes, it went up ON Halloween, but only the lights and the star were added. No ornaments were put on. That was being delayed, at least, until after Halloween passed. And thank goodness, as the tree nearly immediately became fair game for kitten play and naughty shenanigans. Apparently, the actual 52 inch cat tree that was purchased, assembled and placed in the "kitten room" (filled with all sorts of fun kitten/cat toys, which is supposed to provide for hours upon hours of fun kitten play time without causing any destruction in the rest of the home), doesn't seem to matter to these little kitten rascals. There are four kittens in this particular litter, born back on August 20, 2019. Halloween 2019, these four little troublemakers are enjoying reaching the milestone of being ten weeks old. They're plenty big enough to get into lots of trouble, but luckily, still just small enough, that even all four of them climbing the fake tree at the same time hasn't managed to tip it over. The kittens are still each only just around two pounds, at least the three boys (Julius, Simon and Tal) are. The lone girl in the litter (Dorian) is a bit of a runt, so she is just slightly less than two pounds, and in fact weighs in at 1.9 pounds. Once the runt, always the runt, perhaps. In any case, this fake Douglas Fir and its base are fortunately sturdy enough to handle nearly eight pounds of kitten hellion mayhem, constantly climbing up and down the branches, and even getting into play fights with each other while still in the tree. However, the star had to be removed. The lights seem to be okay. At least, no one is chewing on them... yet. However, the lights will most likely need to be removed as well. They are NOT plugged in, and won't be... EVER. This brings a whole new meaning to the term "cat tree". Why was money even spent on an actual cat tree, anyway? This fake Douglas Fir has been put up every Christmas for the last three years, this X-mas 2019 will be year number four. Looks like this year, the only decorations going on the tree will be these four kittens. Well, that's okay. Some compromises have to be made to welcome four new little kitties into the household, and if this is the biggest sacrifice needed to be made, there are no complaints here. Let's just see how much longer these kittens can play in the tree before they DO get just heavy enough to finally topple the whole thing over. Then all their fun will be ruined... Or... Probably not. When that happens, they'll probably just continue climbing, playing and hiding among the branches while the tree simply lays horizontally on the floor. After all, a cat tree is a cat tree, whether vertical or felled. So, no tree this year, but all's well. There's still always Holiday music. These little furballs cat (oops, that is CAN'T) take that away!! Word puns aside, Happy Holidays, kittens. After all, this IS your very first Christmas, so enjoy the tree. Just know you'll be climbing it to the tunes of, "Here Comes Santa Claws"... "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Kittens" ... "Climbin' Around the Cat Tree"... and "Kittens We Have Seen up High"...

Cats love looking out windows. It's just a fact. They will sit and stare out the window for hours, and every cat has their preferred window, as well as their preferred window perch. In this case, nine-month-old Sweetie, who resides in the Midwest, in North Eastern Kansas, prefers sitting on this grey upholstered chair that is keep pushed up to the dining area window, which offers a view of the 1/2 acre back yard with grass, multiple trees, and the inevitable birds and squirrels who inhabit those trees. Cats also love to mark their territory, and while in this case (thank goodness), it's not urine that Sweetie is using to mark her chair, she has decided that using the grey chair as a scratching post while she's already there is a terribly convenient thing to do. It also marks the chair as hers. There are six other cats in the house, but only Sweetie gets to sit in this chair and use it as a back yard lookout. There are no apologies for the destruction of this chair, either. Sweetie has been caught in the act of sharpening her claws on this chair, and she's been told (in a very loud voice), "NO!!" several times. It doesn't seem to faze her in the slightest. Shooing her away only stops the destruction temporarily. At some point, possibly in the middle of the night, this chair went from perfectly fine to looking shredded. The damage was discovered after-the-fact, and far too late to be saved. Once furniture is destroyed, it doesn't come back. Therefore, Sweetie has been successful in her scheme of marking and making this grey chair permanently hers. So, go ahead, Sweetie, enjoy your chair, because you're definitely not getting another one after this!! Live it up, go crazy, and claw your chair up all you want, but just know that YOU will have to live with it, because this chair, and ONLY this chair, is yours now forever. Enjoy your neighborhood watch from your view into the back yard, cat. Just make sure you leave the rest of the household furniture alone...

The Midwest is no stranger to hot, humid weather. Summers are filled with raucous and sometimes dangerous, or even deadly thunderstorms. This particular tree resides in the back yard of a modest home in the far North Eastern corner of Kansas, which is definitely no stranger to the humidity, heat, thunderstorms and sometimes tornadoes that can ravage this state that is part of "Tornado Alley". Summer 2019 seemed like it wanted to hold on forever. So Autumn came late to parts of the Midwest, including North Eastern Kansas. Temperatures remained unseasonably warm all the way up until roughly the last week of October, when the weather took a sudden and abrupt turn, plunging temperatures first into the low forties, then quickly into the high thirties, and soon enough, to below freezing. So, on Halloween, most of the trees in this area had just barely begun to change color. Many were still fully green, showing no signs whatsoever that Fall, let alone Winter, might be on the way. So when a freak snow event took place here on October 28, followed by an even heavier snowfall again two days later, on October 30, many trees just weren't ready for the freezing cold, much less the two to three inch coating of snow they received. The net result was that many trees went from green to nothing in a matter of 24 hours or less. In particular, this tree, in one back yard, lost 75% of its green leaves overnight, on Halloween day. This tree just didn't know how to deal with the sudden cold and snow like its neighbors on either side. Those trees took the cue to immediately begin withering their leaves, and changing from green to yellow and brown, while slowly shedding their foliage over the course of several more days. The tree in the middle, however... Just decided to get it all over with quickly. Which resulted in a LOT of green leaves ALL OVER the ground and yard... and even the car, due to the slight overnight breeze. Lawn mowing season has definitely come to an end until next Spring. And it simply can't be helped, that a certain tree from the Harry Potter books also comes to mind!! At any rate, summer has finally ended, and Autumn is definitely here. Winter can't be too far behind. So, enjoy the Fall temps while you can, Kansas, because as hot as the summers are here, the winters are just as harsh and cold. If winter acts anything like Autumn has so far, Kansas may be in for a season full of oddities and surprises, and generally wacky weather that catches everyone and everything (including the trees) off guard. Happy Fall, everyone!!

These kittens are now eight weeks old, but one of them isn't quite ready to stop nursing just yet. Even Mama is ready, it seems. She doesn't even lay down to help her kitten nurse, she makes him suckle while she's sitting upright!! Well, he succeeds anyhow and gets his comfort. Weaning sure can be hard sometimes, but this little kitten is definitely not wanting to quit for a while longer. How cute!!

Yep. And this isn't the first time, either. And, yes, it hurts a LOT! Like being stabbed in multiple places all at once by tiny little needles, over and over again, in quick succession, the pain moving quickly up the leg from the ankle to the calf, then the knee and beyond. This is what I get for trying to film Tal peacefully sleeping! These kittens are crazy hyper when they get going with their playful antics. I've got the scratches to prove it!!!! But they're all still far too adorable to mind all that much, and kittenhood is over in the blink of an eye, so I try to simply enjoy it all while it lasts, because once they grow up, they'll never be sweet, crazy little kitties like this ever again. LOVE IT.

We all know that cats can be sneaky. We all know that cats can be quiet. We all know that cats can pounce with no warning. But this little kitten seems to be waiting for just the opportune time to attack the camera while their owner is caught completely unaware. This six-week-old kitten has her timing down perfectly, as she waits to attack, not while the human is looking away, but only after she turns back to face the kitten. Commendable... Then, however, before the unsuspecting human has time to react or realize what's happening, the sneaky kitten attacks. You've got to hand it to the kitten, she sure is good at catching her human off-guard. It seems as if she really just wants to innocently play, though, as the human in this situation was not really harmed, only surprised! After the attack, the kitten turned out to only want her belly rubbed and her head petted. Silly kitten. Still, if this sweet little sneaky kitten ever wants to join a secret league of cat ninja spies, she'll probably fit right in. Then again, if this little kitten is so sneaky at her tiny size of six weeks old... Just wait until she grows up a bit more. OWNER BEWARE!!! The surprises with this little cat in the house are probably just getting started.

These two gray kittens were born August 20, 2019. A pregnant stray kitten showed up on a woman named Jennifer Word's porch in Atchison, Kansas, and she felt inclined to feed the poor thing. Next thing she knew, the kitten, affectionately named "Sweetie" had moved into Ms. Word's home. Sweetie officially moved in on August 13, 2019. She gave birth to four healthy kittens just one week later: Three boys and a girl. Two of the brothers were ginger mackerel tabbies. The other pair were a brother and sister with dark mackerel stripes. As the kittens began to grow and move about, Ms. Word simultaneously noticed something seemed "different" about the kittens. As the markings on their fur became more defined and pronounced, she noticed the mackerel stripes were amazingly detailed and striking, extremely intricate and layered. But the most interesting thing that struck the owner's eye with these kittens was the fact that their fur actually seemed to CHANGE whenever they moved. Surely it must be her imagination?? It turns out the phenomenon of the kittens seemingly magical, ever-changing coats wasn't Ms. Word's imagination. After extensive research (and then checking the kittens' coats again and again to confirm), Ms. Word discovered that each of the kittens is what is known as a "smoke cat". Each of the four kittens has either a completely white or light gray undercoat. As the kittens walk, play, jump, stretch, or even simply breathe, their solid undercoats create the illusion of markings that are constantly in flux: The intense and complex mackerel striping seems to ebb and flow, solidify, then separate into tiger striping, patches, vertical & perpendicular lines, stripes, sometimes even appears more similar to cheetah or leopard spots!! The constantly wavering designs on the kittens' fur seems to wax and wane, ebbing and flowing, wafting and drifting like smoke in the air; hence the name "smoke" for this particular type of fur coat. What a surprise for Ms. Word to realize that the four kittens a random stray young cat gave birth to in her home turn out to have some of the most beautiful, exceptional, and RARE coats a cat can have. For otherwise typical mackerel tabbies, these kittens are anything but ordinary. Their stripes are absolutely mesmerizing. Watching the kittens' coats flux and change as they play and run is equally fascinating and hypnotizing. On top of all that, the specific terms for the two sets of twins (two ginger, two dark striped, remember?) makes these kittens coats even more spectacular. The ginger twins, who both have completely white undercoats, are what is known as "red smoke" cats. The dark striped mackerel kittens are even more rare. Both their undercoats are a light gray, with a tinted hue of light blue. These two kittens, brother and sister, are what is termed "blue smoke", an even more rare coat coloring category. It sure would be nice to know what the Daddy of these four kittens looked like!! Mama Sweetie is a patched calico tabby with some fairly pretty mackerel striping herself, but she is clearly not a smoke cat. The kittens must have gotten the dominant smoke coat genetics from Mr. Unknown Tom Cat... and it's simply luck of the draw that the four kittens broke into perfectly matching sets of ginger and dark grey solid colored twins (as opposed to patchwork calicoes like their mother). The smoke effect could only be this striking on solid colored cats. In this case, solid ginger (or red smoke) and solid dark/light gray (or blue smoke). What started out as simply a pregnant stray rescue for Ms. Word has now turned into a full time job, caring for the Mama & her kittens, while researching everything about the kittens' uniquely gorgeous coats and appearance, which has in turn led to her stumbling across numerous breeding websites and "catteries" that specialize in rare cat breeds and coat markings, including smoke cats. Ms. Word is now extremely interested in 'preserving' the intricate mackerel striping of these kittens, along with the rare pairing of their solid undercoats making them smoke cats. A simple pregnant stray rescue has led to this human cat caretaker preparing to delve into the world of extreme breeding to lock in the kittens' amazing coats in repeatable deliveries of solid red smoke and solid blue smoke kitten litters with their complex tiger-mackerel stripes. By this time next year (October 2020), Ms. Word hopes to have secured at least one new litter of these amazing smoke cats. These pretty kitties are far too gorgeous to let their random gene lottery results simply die out and fade away. Who could have ever imagined such an intricate web of developments would come from taking in a pregnant stray cat rescue? Stay tuned for more videos of the kittens as they grow and their coats develop more striking features by the day!! Definitely stay tuned to see what amazingly gorgeous kittens these little cat beauties will hopefully make sometime in early to mid-2020!!

Tal is just a little over six weeks old and already he knows how to look like a cool cat. He just got caught striking a pose. As predicted though, once he saw the camera was on him, he broke form to try and attack the camera! Tal LOVES attention and whenever the camera is rolling, he tries to steal the spotlight. What a ham! He's got two brothers and a sister in his pack, but Tal likes to be a loner and do his own thing. But what a player!! It's as if he knows he's being filmed for potentially hundreds of people to see and admire, and he's always trying to do something to turn the attention onto himself. Otherwise, Tal will simply make certain none of his siblings can get on film by charging at the camera and putting his face into the lens, blocking out everything with extreme close-ups of his fur!! Geez, Tal, let someone else have a minute in the starring role!! LOL. Well, one thing's for sure, this cool kitty knows how to mug for the camera and strike a pose.

Simon is sleeping so peacefully. He's really comfortable and looks like he's having good dreams. Tomorrow he turns six weeks old, on October 1, 2019. Happy six week birthday, Simon!!

Julius is a six-week-old kitten who loves to use the litter box. It makes him feel all grown up. He has a special kitten-sized litter pan, but he prefers to get into the grown up box his Mama uses. He especially likes to jump into the box when his human "auntie" is around to show how good he is at being a grown up kitty. Here he is, PRETENDING to use the litter box, just to try and impress his auntie. He goes through all the motions, digging, even wiping his paws clean at the end, then jumps out acting as if he went, lol! What else to do, but say, 'good job'? Good job, Julius!!!!

Every Mom has been here, right? Ah, these are the moments we all can look back on as parents, with our kids, to remember and just laugh. Here, mom has given her daughter a bowl of Mac 'n Cheese, then goes about her chores, attempting to do laundry, when all of a sudden, her daughter yells for her to come back in to see... Well, the video speaks for itself.

Five-week-old Dori loves to snuggle up inside blankets. This time she found a little kitten cave to crawl into inside the blanket on her owner's bed. She crawled right in and turned around to get comfortable. Within five seconds, she was lulled to sleep in her little blanket cloud cocoon. Awww...... Cuteness attack!!!

Millie is not very social. She likes to be on her own pretty much all the time. She also likes to hide. After ten years living with her owner, there are still family members who have never seen her. But there's one way to catch a quick glimpse of her. CATNIP!!

Simon played too much earlier. Now he's all worn out and getting ready to fall asleep soon.

Look at that little paw tucked under his head like a pillow!!! TOO CUTE.

Little four-week-old Julius the kitten has the smallest little mew. He's not shy, but his voice is tiny!!

Mom fills giant water balloon in backyard. Two siblings dare each other to run across it. This is what happens.

Simon always seems to have a look of confusion, bewilderment, puzzlement, or otherwise curious/clueless look on his face. He's almost always watching things with his head sideways, as if he's trying to figure out what the heck all his siblings are doing. He stops and stares at his brothers & sister like this multiple times throughout the day. Too cute!! Simon is twenty-four days old here. What a cute little three-week-old kitten!!!

The kittens are now 24 days old, a little over three weeks. The absolutely striking and vibrant tiger stripe markings on this entire litter of mackerel tabbies, ginger and gray, alike, is just breathtaking. These are the most beautiful, gorgeous kittens ever!!!!