Catroductions: Comet

Continuing with the introduction of each of our kittens individually, I’d like to introduce you all to Comet.

Comet is trouble. Right here in San Francisco. And that starts with a T, and that rhymes with C, and that stands for Comet!

She’s not at all bad-natured or bad-tempered. She’s just very energetic — VERY, VERY, VERY FRACKING ENERGETIC — and very playful. Long past the time when Talisker is sacked in front of the heater and Houdini is sacked on the sofa, Comet still wants to play. Almost endlessly, apparently. And she thinks the entire world is her toy. Shoelaces, iPhones, books, magazines, jewelry, charger cables, countertops, sinks, the bathtub, hair, hands, feet, cursors moving on a computer screen, words appearing on a computer screen, pretty much anything happening on a computer screen… Comet thinks all of these are the best toy ever. (And yes, we’re working on training her out of thinking that hands and feet are toys.)

She is an incredibly energetic player, one of those kittens who will LEAP into the air doing triple flips, and will RACE up and down the length of the apartment chasing her sister or a crumpled up piece of paper or, apparently, nothing at all. She is the reason we now keep the lids down on the toilet seats, and have taken the curtains down in the living room, and have taken the toilet paper off the spools… (We did that the morning that Comet jumped onto the toilet seat when Ingrid was at the sink, looked Ingrid straight in the eye, sank her teeth into the end of the toilet paper, and raced off with it down the length of the apartment.)

She’s also, probably not coincidentally, the boldest of the three kittens, the one who wants to jump onto the highest places and explore absolutely everything that could possibly be explored. She is both wildly exasperating and endlessly entertaining.

But she’s also unbelievably sweet. When she finally does tire out, she loves attention, and she loves to snuggle: with us, with the neighbors, with pretty much anybody. She loves to give little nuzzly kisses, and we’ve (mostly) trained her out of biting our noses when she does it. She has a ball with her sister, Talisker, and will play and tussle and snuggle with her for hours on end. And she completely adores Houdini, the older kitten. She follows Houdini around like a puppy, and cuddles with her at almost any available opportunity. She also has one of the loudest purrs of any kitty I’ve known: you can literally hear her purring from across the room.

The explanation of the name: Some people have guessed that Comet was named after either the muscle car, the astronomical body, or the reindeer. None of these is correct. She is actually named after the household cleanser. Back in college, I had a friend whose family traditionally named their cats after household products (Jello and Windex being the ones I remember most vividly). Windex had kittens, one of whom was adopted by a very earnest lesbian who named it Sappho, but her housemates scoffed at this and renamed the kitten Saffola. When I told Ingrid this story years ago, she was very entertained by the idea: we talked about what other household products would make good cat names, she suggested Comet, and we both immediately loved it.

But the astronomical body is also very apt. Comet the kitten is very much like a ball of ice hurtling through space at enormous speed, with a long tail streaking behind her.

Here are eleventy billion photos. She’s a little hard to photograph, since she usually won’t hold still long enough, but I think we got some good ones.

Comet on my lap. I think she goes nicely with my op-art tights.

Comet on Ingrid’s lap. About to get off of it. “Sure, this lap business is pretty nice, but I bet there’s some trouble I could be getting into…”

Comet in mid-air. Our neighbor Kanani took this one. I literally have no idea what is happening in it. I’m not even sure which end is which.

Comet on the cat condo, about to launch into a life-or-death battle with the little fuzzy ball dangling from the top.

The battle royale!

Victory within her grasp! But at what cost… ?

Being a sweetie-pie with Houdini. I’m mostly featuring solo pictures in these Catroductions; but I couldn’t resist this one.

And once more, being a sweetie on Ingrid’s lap. And the cycle begins again…

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Catroductions: Comet
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22 thoughts on “Catroductions: Comet

  1. 3

    I wish my cats (technically they’re my mom’s, but circumstances found me keeping and taking care of them for now) would deign to play with me. One of them doesn’t play with anyone; she just darts from hiding place to hiding place. The other plays with my dog but as soon as she notices me watching she runs off.

  2. 4

    When our kittehs Help us by batting things into places where we subsequently cannot find them easily, we refer to it as the Feline Relocation Program. Comet sounds like one of its agents. Good luck!

  3. 5

    I like the introductions, but now to the important question, Where did you get the cat tree? My daughter and her six cats are always looking for new heights to go to.

  4. 6

    That is a nice cat tree – much better looking (not to mention more sturdy looking) than the standard carpet-covered one we got from a Petco. The kittehs seem to prefer any kind of woven fiber to carpet (silly me getting storage benches made from woven grass!) – where did you get it?

    Keep the kitteh photos coming! They’re absolutely adorable.

  5. 8

    As a fellow traveler in the cat loving crowd, I have to tell you – OOOHHHHH! That is one cute cat! Please keep the stories coming. Some days are bleak and kitty stories always lighten things up.

    Cool tights, too.

  6. 10

    Since a few people have asked about the cat condo: We got it at Petco. It’s their eco-friendly house brand. And yes, we really like it, although we suspect the wicker may not survive for very long…

  7. 11

    Bill and The Pint,

    We actually did get that cat condo at PetCo. We were trying to find something other than the usual shag carpeting monstrosities. It’s supposedly all renewable/sustainable materials, and it wasn’t any more expensive. Our girls love it, and sharpen their claws on it all the time.

  8. 12

    Thanks Greta & Ingrid. We got our carpet one at Petco over 7 years ago, so it’s nice to see that Petco is improving their line of kitty trees. The Husbeast and I are planning to move to a bigger apt next year, and as our kittehs have just about destroyed the one we currently have, I think we might have found our replacement. 🙂

  9. 14

    So good that they can socialize and hang together. Mabel and the late lamented Olive (1992-2011) were always polite strangers to each other.

    Mabel, at 7 or 8 years old, is still an unmotivated sprinter and does the surprise-attack play biz. Comet may not slow down for a long time.

    Awwww.

  10. 15

    haha we fostered a kitten like that once. The lady from the adoption agency came over to give her a shot once. Afterwards she set her on the ground and the crazy kitten immediately started wildly batting around the wrapper from the needle. “I’ve never seen anything like that before.” She also once got adopted and then returned a few days later. Poor rejected kitten! She was on the needy side too and once started purring after I accidentally swept her with the broom. I hope her new home appreciated her like you do comet!

  11. 19

    Comet is adorable! I need to find a cat condo like that one – perhaps it’ll keep our menace busy for a few seconds here and there. Either that, or she’ll figure out how to tip it over and then never go near it again. 🙂

  12. 20

    Those who don’t know cats, don’t realize how much their individual personalities and quirks differ. Enjoy the extreme acrobatics while you can. Also don’t get them spayed too young – it will have to happen eventually, but keep them from contact with male cats, and let them develop their full personalities first.

  13. 21

    My hubby’s cat Dax is a toilet paper shredder. He only does it when he wants to show his displeasure with us. We sometimes leave the kitties with a huge food and water dispenser and clean litter when we have to go spend the weekend in San Francisco for doctor appointments. I’ve learned to always remove the TP rolls in both bathrooms when we leave, or we come home to find that Dax has shredded them.

  14. 22

    Active kittens are what laser pointers are for. Easy way to distract them or to tire them out! Our cats have gotten blase about the laser now that they’re older, but our dog is addicted to it.

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