Smoke and Spot had been with us for about two years when Scrappy came into our lives.  She was not welcomed warmly by the boys, and originally we were prepared to have to find her a new home. Lynda put out feelers at work and although we were prepared to cover her vet bills and find her a new home, we were both charmed by her cuddly, friendly personality.  Although Smoke warmed up to her first, Spot was more reluctant to accept her -- taking a few weeks to accept her. Soon the boys accepted her and Smoke revelled in having a willing wrestlemania playmate.  We knew she was "in" when we saw her sleeping with each of the boys.
 

Smoke grooming Scrappy  on the bed.

Spot and Scrappy napping  in the collapsed kitty cave.

We love watching Scrappy playing "Chase" with them.  Smoke seems to really get into it, though Spot is a little reluctant.  He's happiest just sleeping all the time.  Smoke is the one with the energy of a ferret on double espresso so he loves having a new playmate.  Spot, who would rather be napping is content to have Scrappy be Smoke's playmate.

They all like being on the bed at night -- they are only banned when Joe's allergies are acting up.  This causes Spot no end of frustration as a closed door is an affront to him. We're still trying to teach Scrappy about where kitties aren't allowed -- like on the kitchen table.  I suspect that though Smoke and Spot know they're not allowed on it, they do so anyway when we're not around.  Scrappy hasn't learned yet not to try this type of stuff around us.

Smoke and Spot know full well that they're not allowed on counter tops, tables and dressers, etc.  However it's not that unusual for us to find them in such places.  One evening Joe and I were going into the library to look for a book and we just happened to glance into the dining room.  There, bold as brass, was Smoke.  Lounging (seriously, like a little sex symbol!) on the top of the dining room table.  When we exclaimed, "Smoke!",  he looked at us as if to say, yes... what's the problem?  They are all familiar with the tone of voice that goes with "Down! Get Down" but often will wait a beat to see if we are serious...  They also know not to shred my kitchen sheer curtains -- but as you can see below, they make an irresistibly jungle like place to hide and play.  I don't yet have a photo of Scrappy hiding in the jungle sheers, but will get one soon I hope.  She certainly likes to play in the curtains too. I'm on my second set of constantly re-hemmed curtains in there...

Lately the kitties have taken to wanting to go into the garage and explore.  We call it a "Garage Adventure".  Spot is usually the instigator of this, indicating his desire for a garage adventure by sitting by the garage access door in the laundry room and yowling.  Garage adventures are not allowed when one of us will have to leave soon as we don't want them getting out.  So on mornings when I have to work, all the yowling in the world will not result in an adventure.  But when it's feasible, we'll prop open the door and then they run in to prowl around in there.  The garage often changes from adventure to adventure, depending on what trimmings Joe has in there or what boxes are awaiting recycling and so on.  Apparently it's very interesting in there if you a cat.

Feeding time presents an interesting problem.  Scrappy is a kitten.  As such she should be eating kitten food.  This was no problem when she was still relagated to kitty jail.  Now that she eats with her brothers, she's more interested in their food.  We even gave up for a time on feeding her kitten food as Spot just ended up eating it when she ignored it for his or Smoke's food.  We have tried again to get her to eat it and find that when she's the first one whose food it put down, she often will eat quite a bit of it.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Contrasting the three beasties:

	Smoke	Spot	Scrappy Scrappy at 11 weeks
Birthdate	June 4, 2004	June 5, 2004	August 9, 2007
Nicknames	Itty Bitty Kitty (He's not itty-bitty...), Flopsy McGurgle Don't Touch My Bellystein, Smoka (like mocha with an s in the front), Smokey, Catservant Hecubus, Fluffy butt, The Floofster, Mr. Crazy pants...	Spotnick, Spoticus, Big Beautiful Baby, Bunny, Comfy McUndefoot Don't Pick Me Upstein, Comfy McUnderpants, Booger Kitty and Shredder (see Christmas).	Scrappy Dappy Doo, Doodle, Miss Maniac, the Teeny Tiny Tiger (and also the Teeny Tiny Terrorist) -- we're sure she's develop more names as we get to know her better.
Colouring	When we first got Smoke his coat was dark charcoal gray, looking almost black at first.  Lighter gray tufts under his legs (his 'pits') and behind his ears.  Now he's black in most light with some gray belly fur.	White with large splotches of light gray on his coat.  His skin is pink under the white fur, and black under the grey fur -- you can see it in his nose, the inside of his eyes and on his paw pads. His white fur is longer than the gray fur, so it seems to overlap the gray a bit.  His tail is all gray.	Tan and black tabby.  Unlike her brothers, she is a short hair cat -- not big fluffy tail for this one.
Size	Sept 22/04 (1st vet visit): 3.75 lbs Oct. 13/04 (2nd vet visit): 5 lbs  Nov. 3/04 (3rd vet visit): 6 lbs  Dec. 17/04 (with Joe on the scale): 8.5 lbs Nov. 27/06: 10.2 lbs. June 8/07 - 11.75 lbs Dec. 17/07 - 11.25 lbs Originally we thought Smoke would be the smaller cat.  Though he is still more agile than his longer brother, he's pretty close to Spot's weight.  The addition of Scrappy to the family in October helped him get more excercise chasing her around the house and slimmed him down a little.	Sept 22/04 (1st vet visit): 4 lbs Oct. 13/04 (2nd vet visit): 6 lbs Nov. 3/04 (3rd vet visit): 6.75 lbs  Dec. 17/04 (with Joe on the scale): 9.5 lbs Mar. 2/07: 12 lbs. Apr. 14/07: 12 lbs. Dec. 3/07: 12 lbs. Though Spot is still slightly heavier than Smoke, he's also a little longer so has the advantage of looking slimmer.  His weight holds pretty steady.	Oct. 15/07: 1.5 lbs Oct. 22/07: 2.8 lbs Nov. 7/07: 3.0 lbs Nov. 30/07: 3.5lbs Dec. 21/07: 5.5 lbs -- though we think this is a mis-read number -- she couldn't have gained two pounds in 3 weeks.
Fur	Smoke's fur was all long and fuzzy and slightly wiry too as a kitten. Now he's the softest kitty in the universe, taking the title from Spot.	Spot was the softest kitten in the universe. Now he's still very very soft, but Smoke is slightly softer.  The softness ratings change depending on how recently they've been bathed.	She's a softie, but nothing compared with her brothers.
Bathing	Smoke is part beaver, part duck.  Water beads off his fur, so bathing him is a bit of a challenge.  He's also very fluffy.  We finally had to resort to starting him off with soapy water and lather that up.  Getting him wet, just didn't.  He's pretty good about bathing now -- he seems to realize that it'll be over fairly quickly. He doesn't like the hair dryer, but can live with it.	Spot is quite tolerant of the bath.  We only bathe the kitties at most quarterly, so they're not troubled by bath-time too often.  But after a while, Spot's white fur starts to get a little yellowish and we know it's bath time.  Bathing them also helps with Joe's allergies.  Spot HATES the hair dryer.  He's pretty tolerantthe bathing part of it, but will growl and hiss and try to scratch the dryer.  Luckily we have quite a lot of towels that are really good at getting water out of fur, so he doesn't have to tolerate too much of the dryer.	Scrappy recently had her first bath, and we were surprised that she didn't make her little complaining noises as she does when wrestling Smoke or getting her claws clipped.  She put up with it all pretty well and her fur is so short, that she didn't need to be dried with the dryer at all.  Once we used the two chamois-like towels on her and the other microfiber ones, she was pretty much dry. The very next day she fell into Lynda's bubble bath while Lynda was bathing!  Maybe she likes baths!
Voice	Smoke is the squeaky kitty -- his 'miaow' is a high pitch squeak usually coupled with a 'flop kitty' when he's being cute.  He also seemes to come equipped with a miao that's a bit unhinged -- urgent and high-pitched with a gurgle.  You have to hear it! Smoke has a growl too -- he's only used it once when he captured a cockroach and didn't want to share.	Spot is the loud miaower.  He'll look at us and shout MIAAAAAAOOOOOOOWWWWWWW!  Just because.   The sound when he's being a little quieter is almost 'n-gow' instead of miaow.  Spot also growls, especially when he has a particularly desireable treat -- get away, it's mine!	We discovered that Scrappy has a set of lungs on her when she was in kitty jail (guest bathroom) when we first brought her home.  She didn't want us to forget she was there or forget to feed her...  Her voice otherwise is quite high pitched.  She makes lots of squeaks when she and Smoke wrestle -- she complains if he's rough, but attacks him continually anyway.
Photo Break!
Personality	Smoke is full of energy.  He'll jump at a toy repeatedly and never seems to tire.  When Smoke finally captures his toy prey, he'll run all around the house with it!  He's also a little more adventurous than Spot.  Smoke will put up with more than Spot will (nail clipping comes to mind) but will indicate that he'd prefer to be let go.	Spot is very smart.  He'll watch the swizzle toy as it's moved around figuring out the best place to be to capture the toy.  Then he moves to that spot and with little effort, will capture it. Then he likes to take it away, trotting proudly with his chest out.  Spot doesn't like having somebody else in control -- when picked up and held to clip his nails or put him in the carrier for a trip to the vet, he'll struggle mightily.	Scrappy has no fear of anything.  I guess her time fending for herself taught her self-reliance.  She attacks Smoke for a wrestle all the time and is often seen streaking across the floor chasing one of her larger brothers.  She is also quite constantly underfoot or up to no good.
Quirks	Smoke knows we love it when he makes a cute little squeaking miaow and flops on his back.  He knows how to milk the cute factor.  Smoke used to announce to us when he was going to use the litterbox, though now he just claws the heck out of the liner. Smoke will attack and de-feather any feathered toy that he can have to himself for more than ten minutes. Smoke likes to get his loving at the computer desk.  He'll come up on the desk and head-butt our mouse hand and let us know that it's time to pet and brush him, computer be damned.	Spot has some slightly disturbing quirks. One of them is that he loves to sniff and then roll in our underwear.  After we've worn it.  The sweatier the better.  Hmmmmm.  I wonder what that's about. Spot loves to be under the bed covers.  He tries to dig (see below) to get under them, but we're discouraging that.  Once under he is perfectly content to snuggle with us. Spot has the most amazing ablility to get comfortable when sleeping in the most contorted positions. Spot likes to get on Lynda's lap when she's reading the paper in the morning -- we call it "newspaper lovin' time" and will get scratched and petted and loved.  But it's only on his terms and only if he's the only one in the kitchen.	Scrappy is the first kitty we've seen who likes to was her tail like a dog.  Perhaps she'll grow out of it, but it's adorable. She also tends to attack the boys on their way to breakfast. She is a bit of a complainer -- squeaking and whining when Smoke wrestles with her, but she's never upset enough to want to stop playing. Scrapry is a cuddly kitten.  It's only listed her as a quirk because the boys aren't cuddly.
Activities	Smoke is the climber.  He learned to scale the entertainment centre to get to the plant and toys at the top, though he's given that up now.  He still is the only cat who jumps to the guest bathroom window over the tub. Smoke is the midnight lovey cat.  He likes to come on the bed in the wee hours (usually around 4 am) and climb between Lynda and Joe and start purring.  Loudly.  Then he butts his head into us (or nose into Joe's face) to encourage us to pet him.  This can go on for quite some time. Smoke also likes attacking the lump under the covers that is Spot.  Birdwatching at the kitchen window.	Spot is the brains of the operation.  He's perfectly happy to let Smoke do the dirty work and then play with the goodies he throws down from the top of things.  Spot is the digger, opening dresser drawers in order to dig through Joe's t-shirts.  Why does he do it?  What is he looking for?  We have no idea. Spot loves playing with the penguin fridge magnets and dragging them down the fridge to play with on the floor. Birdwatching at the kitchen window.  They both love looking at the sparrows at the finch feeder and any mourning doves that come their way.  Although Smoke does it as well, Spot makes the most and best 'oh my god look at the birdies!!!!!' cat noises.	Well Miss Maniac loves to chase the big boys around the house, which is very entertaining as she is so much smaller than them.  She also likes to attack the boys and especially to wrestle with Smoke.  She's taken to playing with the toys the boys have -- all of them, even Spot's favorite fuzzy balls. She also likes to fetch her toys.  She brings them to us to throw for her and when we do, she brings them back. She likes to keep watch on us when we're in the shower in the morning.  She'll hang out on the towels then come down when we get out to inspect the shower and get some petting.
Likes and  Dislikes	Smoke very much dislikes his belly rubbed.  Which is why Joe loves to rub it while saying "Belly, belly, belly!".  (See Smartie's objection to Tummy sniffing). Smoke also dislikes it when Spot is getting more attention than he is.  He'll wedge himself in between Spot and whomever is giving the attention and wiggle and squirm until Spot leaves and he can get all the attention. Smoke loves chicken! Both Smoke and Spot love the "Chicken Pucks" as we call them -- freeze dried chicken we give them as a treat.	A closed door is an affront to Mr. Spot.  He hates them.  He's been known to scratch and miaow at our bedroom door (when we still kept them out) for over half an hour in the middle of the night.  Spots hates being picked up -- even just to be held.  Spot loves chicken and beef.  Yep, he'll wrestle a cow to the ground for dinner! Spot loves the kitty beds we got them.  He sleeps in them more than Smoke does -- Smoke likes to sleep on Spot in a kitty bed! Spot, while he also adores the freeze dried chicken, also loves it when we make Salmon.  Wild Alaskan is his preferred salmon!	So far Scrappy seems to like everything -- especially the boys' Cat food (as opposed to her Kitten food which Spot loves). She certainly dislikes getting her claws clipped, squirming and making her whining noises.
Favorite Toys	Smoke loves the Kissing Christmas Reindeer.  Or as we refer to them the Kissing Mooses.  He actually frolics with them, tossing them in the air and then capturing them.  They ocassionally get attached to his rabies tag by the magnet in the mouth -- it's very cute! Smoke's other favorite is the feather ball.  It's a small felt covered ball with feathers attached by a velcro attachment.  He goes nuts when he sees it and bats it around until he loses it under the couch.  He quickly de-feathered them, and now he loves to fetch his featherless feather balls.  The tab where the feathers attached is perfect for carrying them in his mouth.	Spot LOVES the fuzzy balls.  They came as a bonus with the Christmas cat Teaser and he had to have more of them.  He bats them around until he loses them under the couch and loves to carry them in his mouth. He started playing a little game in the foyer.  He will take his green ball there and drops it on the floor and then walks away ever so casually like he doesn't care about that stinking ball.  He'll ignore it for a while then Boom!  He attacks the ball and chases it into the library.  Soon he comes out again, carrying the ball, then drops it on the floor and walks away again. Another favorite has been the half-ball.  A plastic ball meant for holding catnip came apart and both Smoke and Spot love chasing it around: something about the sound and the fact that they can carry them in their mouths.	Scrappy doesn't seem to have any favorite toys, they're all her favorites!  She even likes to play with rolled up plastic bags and anything interesting to her that she finds in the garbage.

Well we've only had three kitties for a couple of months now, so we'll be adding more to this page as we get more photos and stories.  We didn't do a lot of decorating this year for Christmas since our schedules had been so busy.  Scrappy seemed to like the Christmas tree -- especially dismantling it, ornament by ornament.  She actually started with the lights -- removing whole sections of strings from the lower branches.  Then when the ornaments finally went up, she just started on them.