Newbie in the House

I am currently at the desk, trapped beneath a 2.8 pound 12-week-old sleeping kitten.

We lost our bird to illness. She didn't die, but we did send her to a rescue where they are more equipped to deal with her condition than we are. 

And so, quite literally having an empty spot in the house, the family went to the pet store to pick up some dog treats and we saw an adorable kitten. Curious, spunky, but not obnoxious. I've never had a kitten; I have adopted an adult cat, but he knocked a screen out of the window while we weren't at home and was gone. (We adopted him sans claws, so I worried about him being out. He's chipped, but we've never gotten a call from the shelter, so I hope some family snagged him up and he's got another home and didn't meet a bad end. )

I've really missed having a cat around.  Plus, the local animal shelter is doing half off adoptions on cats for the month of October! Dave gave in and we went into the adoption area to look at the cat and she immediately jumped on his shoulder and lied down. He was sold. ;)

Having a baby cat is a new experience for me. It's like having a toddler; although she's already potty trained, she has to be told over and over where she is allowed to roam and she is curious about EVERYTHING. 

I plan on clicker-training this cat in case, like our other cat, she manages to escape the house. Hopefully that way the clicker will be a signal to come. I got some moist treats and a clicker, and every time she responds she gets a treat. We are doing this several times a day. 

Connor, Genna and Aileen are very good with her; they all know how to act around an animal and they actually burn up each other's energy playing with one of those string on a stick toys. 

Fortune, our Great Dane is a 'mommy dog.' She calmly lays in the floor and waits for the kitten to approach  her. 

Out Pitt, Kona, is another story. She is extremely well behaved usually. She follows commands well and is very food motivated, making her easy to train. She has only two obnoxious behaviors; one would be the uncontrollable urge to jump our fence which results in her being on a lead in a fenced yard. (sigh) The second would be the new stupid behavior of apparently thinking she should chase anything smaller than her, ie the kitten, who planted herself on my shoulder (I've got the claw marks to prove it) and as soon as I yelled at the dog, she stopped... But she sits on her bed and literally SHAKES when the cat comes into the room. She mostly controls herself out of fear... She's difficult to discipline because Kona, also adopted, was beaten by her previous owner. Any disapproval on our part results in cowering. In fact, I believe she was specifically beaten with sticks, ect. It took me a month to get her to realize she wasn't about to get a beating when she saw me get the broom to sweep the kitchen. 

I suppose I should just let the cat open her up once. She play-jumped at our bird one time and got a good bite for her trouble and never, ever so much as looked at the bird after that. Unfortunately, I don't feel comfortable letting the cat take care of business until she is bigger, so we're going to be in for a few months of closely watching Kona. 

Ah, well. I'm rambling. 

Here's a pic of the newbie:

I know, not great, but try getting her to hold still while awake. ;)