This
is Jeoffry, Maine Coon Kitten from Hell, at about ten weeks. As a newborn
he had been critically ill with diarrhea and the breeder brought him in
to the local vet to have him put down. Luckily, there was someone there
who had a soft spot for Maine Coons and she got permission to keep him.
With tender care from Rae plus a shave of the underside of his tail where
the skin had broken down, he began to mend. He was a handsome fellow, even
if the tail shave did earn him the sobriquet Baboon Bum.
At seven months as of April, 2000, he bustles around the house climbing things, sniffing things, eating things, breaking things, chasing things, getting into, under, through, over, behind and in front of things. He retrieves toys, bringing them back to me and blinking in a friendly way to suggest I might like to throw them for him to fetch. He gets on extremely well with Emily the Quadruped, German Shepherd of Nobility and Charm, largely because she allows him to beat her up constantly, confining retaliation to giving him a good ear wash and tail inspection daily. He's reached a modus vivendi with Sophie the Slut Princess, and terrorises poor Mudge the Ugly. This is a problem, as Mudge is 15 years old and easily spooked. I've set up a nest and a safe space for him in a room away from Jeoffry, but Mudge seems to think he's being imprisoned and makes bold bids to escape whenever I open the door.
Jeoffry's name, by the way, is taken from a poem
(Jubilate Agno) by Mad Kit Smart, an eighteenth century English
poet. The poem is here.