Cardamom, now Merlin; ADOPTED; updated 8/3/2020

Brother from another mother

Cardamom is a little older than my crew, and he just LOVES to play. He was put with other kittens with a different foster mommy (who thought he was a girl... we were surprised when we found his kitten jewels!). Cardamom played too roughly with the other litter, who were even younger and smaller than mine. Though she didn't want to give Cardamom up, she also wanted all of the kittens to be happy- so we decided to see how he'd fit in with my crew.

Cardamom blended in with the other Spices in a magical way. Not a single hiss or hesitation- they accepted him from the first second as if he had always been by their sides. Cardamom did play more vigorously than his new litter at first- they were all gaining slowly or not gaining weight at all... and Cardamom was growing at a much faster rate. But when their energy ran out, they'd simply go to sleep. Cardamom would try to wrestle and play, chewing on their tails or toes or ears... but they'd sleep on, ignoring him until he found a toy or his own tail to chase.

When one of my very best friends first started coming over to see the kittens, he spent most of the time with the orange kittens- he loved making orange kitten balls. Cardamom was too active and wiggly for this novice cat handler. But as he got more confident that he could hold them without hurting them , he learned how to calm a hyper kitten and lull it into bliss. Cardamom quickly learned to enjoy the cuddle time as much as playtime and my friend filled up his phone with kitten selfies.

One of my favorite moments was hearing him talking to Cardamom... "look!! look! It's us!" as he sat with Cardamom in his lap, showing him all their selfies. Cardamom actually looked very interested in admiring their pictures!

Once they orange spices started to feel better, Cardamom discovered that Tumeric was the most playful. They don't mind being apart, but they do seek each other out regularly for playing, grooming, and cuddling.

Cardamom was one of the first to realize there was a world outside the kitten room, and that the world contained much larger fur babies. He made sure they knew just how big and tough he was.

Though Paprika was the most persistant and the first kitten that my very scared Pigwidgeon allowed into her space, Cardamom was the first kitten that Pigwidgeon joined for a cuddle. She leaned into him, and enjoyed a few moments of chilling with him before the others joined us all for a little rest.

Cardamom thinks blogs are great. Don't tell him that he's a horrible speller and I edit all his work. He thinks he is very brilliant.

Updated 7/2/20

Cardamom, also known as Cardaminimom, and Cardaminiminiminimom, is super special. He loves his humans and loves to cuddle in bed or sit in a lap during work time (when he's not "supervising" my teletherapy... aka stepping all over my laptop while I'm trying to teach). He loves his siblings, the other fosters, and the older house cats and will wrestle and play with any of them. But Cardamom is also fine on his own, independently exploring, entertaining himself when everyone else is sleepy, or finding a quiet place to nap with a little more personal space.

One day when he felt a little more clingy, he followed me around while I was cooking, asking for attention. As a joke, I picked him up and stuffed him in my tank top. He stayed there for the next two hours!

Some of my friends come over weekly to help me socialize kittens. They've watched the last several litters grow up and learn to meet strangers, including kids. They felt a special bond with Cardamom, who seemed to love them right back.

So much that they asked for Cardamom to make a home visit, worried that their former baby of the house, might resent a new mini floof. Cardamom slept peacefully in the car, storing up his energy for the new exploration. At first, we were very cautious, letting them all sniff each other through the crate. Cardamom reached his tiny paws out towards the others through the grate. 4 adults and 2 kids stood by, ready to swoop in if the introduction went sideways, but Cardamom scoffed at the idea of a slow introduction and made himself at home. Their house pets were curious, but accepting, and all our worry was unnecessary.

So little Cardaminimom has a home waiting for him- and a new name, which I can't post because they let me pick it from their final list (after intense family debating) and I will be revealing it to them at his adoption day. He's going to have the best home!

Updated 7/12/2020

My friend came over last week and gave out treats, but Cardamom was busy playing in the front room and did not come in until all the treats were devoured. His expression of disbelief makes me laugh EVERY time.

The treat bag was already empty... those other kittens were still hopeful

Cardamom was very wobbly when he first got home from his neuter surgery.

For a few hours, he just swayed gently and drooled. But he recovered the fastest and was starting to play before bedtime.

Cardamom and friends got a visit from a few children and their mommy last week. The kids LOVED playing with the kittens and asked me for "MORE CAT TOYS" so I showed them one of my extra bins. As a result, the kittens had access to almost every kind of cat toy I own (I tend to cycle them in/out, attempting, and failing, to keep some sort of order in my home rather than having them layered across the floor).

The morning after his neuter surgery, my husband caught this adorable moment after feeding our adult kittens. Cardamom found this yellow fuzz ball and brought it up on top of the dresser to steal our house cat's food... because the kittens eat the adult kibble and the adults love the kitten kibble, despite so many efforts to get them in the correct dishes.

I can see him thinking "how am I going to eat and still protect my toy?" in this first picture and loved his first solution in the second.

My husband says that shortly after he took these shots and put his camera away, Cardamom decided his paw was not enough to deter the other kittens from stealing his ball, so he grabbed it again... then hovered over his food dish trying to figure out how to eat food with a fuzzy yellow ball in his mouth. He finally settled on putting the ball in his dish while he ate.

Several hours later, I was getting ready to go to Petsmart to set up the adoption kennels for the next day. I heard a growling from my bathroom....

No foster moms were harmed in the making of this video. He gave me warnings, but used NO claws.

I was gone for almost 4 hours. I came home to this:

Luckily, while I was out at Petsmart, I bought him a 4 pack of the little balls AND found a big one! I packed him a very full treat bag to go to his forever home.

I actually had fun getting Cardamom ready, since some of my very closest friends were his adoptive family. I see them weekly and will get to visit him in his new home. They gave me 3 name options and asked me to choose his name and reveal it to them on adoption day. I ordered a tag to match the tags they got for their other cats, but it didn't come in time. The seller sent me a photo before she shipped it, so my mom cut the tag out and gave it a transparent background so I could plop it in some pictures of him and paste it all over his go home treat bag.

Merlin gets two new mommies and two young male cat whisperers... their boys love to come over and have a gift for lulling all of the cats into a meditative state. They've been instrumental in helping the Spices and the Power Pack... both of these litters were scared and prone to hissy fits when I got them, and they're now extremely loving and social.

I already got an update from them as well.

"We had a great (but hot!) first night with little dude. He has used his litter box like a champ, slept with us all night long. Merlin wanted to have a love fest at 3 in the morning and proceeded to cuddle us and love us and couldn't get himself close enough to us, paws and face and all, to show us that love. Lol He literally was trying to put his face in my mouth to give kisses."

Merlin definitely picked his people, and he picked the BEST people! Update 8/3/2020

Merlin's family has no regrets. He wasted no time making his new family fall in love. As they hoped, he became special friends with Monte, aka Beep Boop. Maybe sometimes their relationship is a little "special" and more than slightly inappropriate, but I love their cuddle pictures so much!

But this is my favorite so far... I just can't help but look at it every few days!

Beep Boop with a side of Merlin Blep.

Update 10/25/20

Merlin and family have been busy- selling this gorgeous house and getting ready to move. But Merlin is there for some stress relief and to help out in any way he can.

A-cat-demic tutor!