Freya and Fiona grew up very quickly. The cute tiny kitten stage is short. But the cuteness remains. I don’t have any videos from their first years, unfortunately. But I do have pictures. Not the greatest pictures, though. Looking back, it becomes apparent that my material as well as my skills were not that great. But the pictures that I do have bring back cherished memories.
That first Christmas, we brought the kittens with us when we visited our families on the other side of the country. They stayed with my parents-in-law, and they only broke one vase… Whoops! But they were adorable heart stealers, of course.
They were little rascals! In the picture above they had both jumped onto the open window. At the time, we lived on the second floor. This was quite a dangerous development! So we had to take care that the windows were not open when they were unsupervised. These girls both liked to be on top of things!
They were still playing a lot together. Here, Fiona is about to pounce on Freya. Freya is aware of the incoming attack. You can imagine Fiona’s butt wiggle in progress here.
But they were also very sweet. They both loved lying in my lap and snuggling. Also with each other.
Freya was the easiest cat I have known so far. She basically loved almost everything and was very laid back about being picked up. Here, she is behaving like a little baby. She didn’t mind lying on her back. As long as she got her snuggles, she was happy.
They were still small enough to fit into the carrier together. We visited the vet for vaccinations, and sometimes we went to visit family. We even took them there by train.
Normally, Freya was the more chatty one. Fiona was more of a chirper. But then she was getting in heat. Oh my. We hardly slept that night because Fiona was crying so loudly. The kittens were in the hallway at night, and we were only one door away in the bedroom. That didn’t really help against the loud howling. And when Fiona was done after a few days, Freya took over. I took them to the vet to be spayed a week later.
The poor kitties were really out of it afterwards, but they recovered quickly. The fluff on their bellies grew back and they were back to normal. Without the nightly concerts.
They did still disturb our sleep a bit. Fiona figured out how to open doors, so we had to change the position of our door handles. And Freya used to scratch the door really early in the morning, ordering breakfast. They were not allowed to be in the bedroom during the night, because Fiona would sit on top of the closet (which was over 2 metres high), and jump onto the bed in the middle of the night, scaring the crap out of us.
My now-husband had recently moved in with me, and he brought a large amount of cardboard moving boxes with him. Freya and Fiona were delighted. This was their favourite spot. They watched us from above, like feline overseers. Such a shame that we had to unpack the boxes and remove their watchtower.
Then one evening, as I was cooking a late dinner, the window was open. I suddenly heard some scratching noises, and looked, but I saw nothing there. And I didn’t see Freya anywhere, either. So I ran downstairs, opened the front door, and there she was. She had jumped onto the window sill and slipped, I think, falling down two floors. Freya was sitting in front of the door, making sneezing noises. Her nose was bleeding. I checked her paws, and they seemed fine. She had fallen down about 8 metres, and after that she didn’t run away, fortunately, but she climbed the stairs back to our front door.
I felt so sorry for Freya, and we put the mattress in the living room and had her sleep with us in the bed to keep an eye on her. I took her to the vet the next day, and it turned out that she had broken her palate. The vet gave me pain killers for her for the next three days, but it had to heal on its own. Which it did, and Freya seemed back to normal quite soon. She was a bit more careful around the window, though, which was good.
Fiona thought that Freya was being weird, with her strange sounds and her different behaviour, so she hissed at her at first. But when Freya had healed a bit, she accepted her again.
They were still great friends, and never far away from each other. They were becoming more different, though. Fiona was very lean, and Freya was putting on weight. Freya was also more fluffy than Fiona, and she had generous belly fluff, while Fiona’s fur coat was more sleek.
Their characters were still the same. Freya was more open to new experiences and relaxed, while Fiona was more careful, yet very loving once you won her over. Sweet sisters.
