We visited the Larimer County Humane Society on July 11th after church. Our intention was just to have a look at a few cats and see if any of them caught our eyes. But this skinny little gray stick wowed us with his affection and playfulness. We decided to take him home then and there.
(Incidentally, we did look at a couple other kittens. One was an adorable male named Kenny who was friendly enough but very skittish, especially with Tessa. He would have been great for a single person or an older couple without kids, I think. The third was a cute female named Banshee, which I thought was a great name. She was very affectionate but also a little more nervous than we wanted with Tessa. Too bad - I loved her coloration.)
This gray kitten with an overabundance of scrawn was extremely playful when we were in the visiting room. He purred easily when petted or picked up. But best of all, when Tessa gave out one of her cries (I think she was frustrated that I was holding her and not letting her run around), this kitten came running over to greet her, rubbing up against her! He was not the least bit intimidated by the 7-month old and we knew we had a winner.
The Humane Society had dubbed the kitten Baby Gray...but that wasn't going to fly with us. We knocked around names like Tempest and Pewter...but we finally settled on Jasper - after the gemstone.
At this posting, Jasper has been with us for a little over two weeks and he seems to be adapting very well. He comes across as attention starved, always looking for a pet or a snuggle. He loves to play, especially chasing toys, though he is a bit clumsy as yet. He even knows how to fetch (!) and will retrieve thrown toys for us to throw again.
Jasper has quite a range of volume in his meows. Most of the time, all he does is open his mouth to make a mew noise that's barely audible. Other times, especially when he's hungry or trapped in the closet, he'll make an impressive yowl that can probably be heard by the neighbors!
He doesn't seem to know any fear either. He's not scared of the vacuum cleaner nor about the prospect of going outside. He especially not afraid of Tessa. This unfortunately means that he finds himself grabbed by the ears, tails and paws and dragged by the kid. But is he clever enough to get out of her way? No! He just keeps wandering back over to her, plopping down in front of her, and getting grabbed again.
Jasper has the usual bad habits that we're trying to cure him of, namely chewing on things he shouldn't (like electrical cords) and climbing onto the tables and counters. Fortunately, he doesn't like getting sprayed with water so it should only be a matter of time before he realizes what he's allowed and not allowed to do.
Rune is adjusting slowly. She obviously was not happy with the new addition when he arrived, but after a couple weeks, she starting to tolerate him. Jasper tries to play with her by pouncing, but that only results in an angry growl and hiss from Rune. Jasper does seem smart enough to know that maybe he'd better leave the older (and grouchier) cat alone. But still, whereas in the first few days, Rune didn't want to be in the same room as Jasper, nowadays she'll even nap or eat her meals with him nearby.
So we think Jasper's going to work out with us. He's a lot of fun and very affectionate. He's already managed to win the hearts of anyone who's visited with us.
As always, thanks for reading...and I hope you're having a great day!
Oh, and Jasper hopes so too!
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