One February evening me and my mom came to feed Ryzyk and Shy as usual. Suddenly some unfamiliar tiny ball of fluff dashed along the "balcony". Who are you??

 

The name came right away - "babe", "the tiny one". Super long fur, super long tail (which looked even longer because of that fur), super long bushy whiskers on a tiny face and big bright green eyes. She looked like a tiny scared teen girl (but at that moment we were not 100% sure she was a girl). Masseeka hesitated, but then carefully approached a bowl next to the can Shy was eating from. So tiny next to him. Started gobbling dry Iams, throwing quick glances around after every couple of bites, ready to dash out any second. Shy took one look at her and continued eating.

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We hoped that being young and motivated by hunger she would eventually be comfortable with us, but she never allowed any contact other than a finger-to-nose touch if we put a hand under the building. She looked relaxed reclining next to Ryzyk, but would dash away the moment we came too close. She could climb up the tree and sit right above our heads, just high enough to be out of reach. We hoped she would become more social, but...

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Whoever it was, Shy or some other cat - he made us hurry before the school yard would become overpopulated. (We expected all kittens to be ginger, but turned out to be none!)

 

The trap was set soon after we took home Ryzyk. It was strategically placed behind the electric box so Shy would not see what was happening. To avoid trapping him (for now) we set a can of Friskies for him a bit further and fed him first. Then we placed a treat for Masseeka inside the trap, stepped back and watched.

 

She smelled it, she could see the familiar can, but hesitated to go all the way in. She stepped in, stepped out, went around and even tried to pull the can out from the outside - no success. After about 5 minutes she finally decided to go for it.

 

Bam! Shy jumped and dashed under the building. Masseeka tried to jump too, but the bars were everywhere! We rushed in with a towel. Sure enough, she calmed down as soon as we covered the trap. Old trick.

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At home, her playpen was already set up. She needed some topical treatment just in case (fleas, ticks, ear mites etc). We had used the same one on Ryzyk two weeks earlier, and he took it well. But would she let us do it?

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Yes. She yelled and protested about her freedom, but didn't mind my mom touching her once she was let out from the playpen into our half-bath. As we applied the topical we discovered a surprise - her beautiful coat was in terrible condition, horribly matted into several hard pillows on her back and sides. She needed a haircut, because those mats painfully pull on the skin, rub it and make it dry, collect filth and block grooming. It seems like she gave up on taking care of her fur, other than washing her face and front paws.

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The haircut worked surprisingly well. She either realized what we were doing or just decided to trust us. Small scissors with dull rounded tips, couple hours total (with long breaks), a full bag of clippings - she looked like Winnie the Pooh wearing only a shirt. We didn't try to style anything, so it was ugly, funny but practical. Can't say it improved her enthusiasm about keeping herself clean, but then the unexpected twist made it even funnier.

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After 3 days in quarantine, we moved her playpen into the room where Ryzyk lived all this time (about 2 weeks). He was curious but didn't seem to recognize her right away. Next day we let her out of the playpen for a bit, and he gave her a slight tap on the head when she approached. No? Setting boundaries? Shockingly, he suddenly jumped and bit her on the ear, but before we could grab him, he started licking that ear! Phew! He recognized her! They started wrestling like kittens, and after a couple of playful bites he would stop and groom her. Sweet big brother! Thank you Ryzyk!

 

Normally he would meow to us, but as soon as these two started living in the same room, he changed his vocabulary to soft "mrrrrrr" sounds, exactly the ones as mama-cats use to talk to kittens. 

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We tried to let Masseeka out in different rooms along with Ryzyk, but she would immediately crawl under furniture in an unbelievably liquid manner, I swear there was not enough space to even stick an arm under it! With her noticeably growing belly it was unsafe, so we opted to keep her in the "kitty room", locking her in the playpen at night so she would not sneak out if someone opened the door.

 

Ryzyk taught her to purr when being pet, to rub against us if we sat on the floor. The only thing she still cannot control are her claws - especially when being lifted up. She doesn't like that. We will see how (and if) it changed now, after she became a mom. 

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