As I wrote in another article, I bought a gray kitten yesterday. I named him Socrates and he's going to be my trucking companion. As I'm spending the weekend in a hotel I thought it would allow some quiet time to get to know each other a bit before setting out in the truck on Monday. He got over his fright over being relocated pretty quickly. More quickly than I had expected in fact. In a few short hours he went from being afraid of me to begging me to pick him up so he can nap on my lap. ...

I had bought a collapsable pet carrier for Socrates a while back. I really hadn't done much with it, just left it in it's plastic cover and stashed it in the truck. Today while eating lunch I decided to break it out and see how difficult it was going to be to train Socrates to go into it and tolerate being inside it. He'll need to be in it whenever I put the truck in the shop to be serviced. I took it out of it's cover, opened it up, and set it up so that it remained in place. I then just ...

Ever since we got home Socrates follows me to the bathroom and jumps up on the sink (no mean feat for someone that small) and watches as I pee. I think he must be gay or something. j/k It's cute how he follows me around while trying to not look like he's following me around. At this point he doesn't seem to like to be outside of about 10 feet of me. I'm sure as he gets older that'll change.

Up until tonight Socrates has express no interest at all in going outside. In fact the few times I have carried him outside he has been scared near to death and clung to me for protection. Tonight I rode to the C-store to get a couple of beers. When I got back he was sitting directly in front of the door when I opened it. He stuck his head out and sniffed around a bit and then I shooed him back so I could get inside and close the door. For a few minutes after that he meowed and clawed at t...

I've been using a squirt bottle to train Socrates. We've been going round and round about his biting. He just wants to play but I am trying to teach him that biting is a bad thing. When he starts biting I'll tell him "NO!" and sometimes that will work. If he continues after the second "NO!", I say "I'm gonna get the squirt bottle." That works now as he's experienced the squirt bottle enough times to know exactly what that phrase means. I don't even need to squirt him any more, just threate...

As I mentioned in another article Socrates likes to follow me into the bathroom. He likes to jump up on the sink but because it's so high for his little self he has to get a really good running start at it. A few minutes ago I was in there and he came running full speed, launched himself too soon, let out a loud "mreoooooorw", and slammed squarely into the vanity door and rolled back out the bathroom door. I couldn't help it, I was laughing my ass off, it was so hilarious. He wasn't hur...

Ok, today Socrates has thought up a new game. No matter where I go or what I'm doing he comes and stands on top of my feet and then looks up at me like "What are you gonna do about it?" At first I thought he was wanting me to pick him up or play with him or something, but that's not it. If I pick him up he wants back down and when I put him down he stands on my feet again. I'm not sure exactly how this is fun for him, but whatever, as long as he's amused I guess.

My heart is broken. Today Socrates dumped my coffee cup over in the floor. I set aside my laptop and started cleaning up the mess when he jumped on the laptop and broke off one of the keys from the keyboard. I was angry and yelled at him for it. I guess he was upset or scared from my yelling at him because when I opened the door to get out of the truck he jumped out. I tried to catch him but wasn't able to do so. The poor little guy ran under the wheels of another truck before I could stop...

Up until now I haven't purchased any treats for Socrates as I wanted him to stick to a healthy diet during his big growth stage. Now that he's 6 months old and is pretty close to his adult size (man has he grown!) I bought a package of treats while picking up some kitten food today. They're something called 'Pounce Moist Seafood Medley"" cat treats. I think we have a winner folks. He really seems to like them. He's quite polite about eating them though. If I hold it out to him with my fing...

My little gray buddy is back home from the vet's office. He doesn't seem much worse for wear. It's obvious that he's a little sore and still feeling a bit off from being put under, but otherwise doesn't seem too upset by the whole ordeal. After getting a bit of reassuring petting he wandered around to make sure home was still as he expected it to be, he enjoyed some food and water before taking up his favorite perch in the front window. He seems to be fine if moving a bit gingerly. ...

Today is the day for Socrates to go in to be neutered. Per the vet's instructions I took up his food at 6:00 PM last evening. He was a tad upset and confused at that. He kept going over to where his food is supposed to be and then looking at me as if to say "Where's my dinner?" He'd had access to food all day but as usual only nibbled. He does most of his eating at night. As I expected he woke me fairly early this morning, wanting to be fed. Naturally he doesn't understand why there is no ...

Socrates is going to the vet this morning for his rabies shot and first booster. As my usual ride is tied up It will also be Socrates' first ride on my bike. That should be interesting. I'm sure he won't be a happy camper later on today.

Socrates is in one of those moods. He's in total insane play mode. He knows that I don't accept him biting me, even playing. He's been running around playing with his little orange dinosaur. He carried it up on the couch and has been flipping around all the the place fighting with it. Well, at one point he got a tad carried away and in the heat of battle he reached over and bit me on the arm while I was typing on the keyboard. It wasn't a gentle bite. It smarted. I was so surprised by i...

Today I purchased a new personal trimmer which is a fancy name for one of those gadgets one uses to trim the hair out of the nose and ears. The less hair I have on my head, the more I have in my ears. Who says God has no sense of humor? I installed a battery and tried out my new gadget. Socrates was quite fascinated with the new toy until I switched it on. The buzzing noise freaked him out and he couldn't put some distance bewteen the buzzing thing and himself quickly enough. He stayed a f...