Day 15, Apache

Today, little Apache gets the spotlight.

Apache is a tortie with the most adorable little patch over one eye. She got her name quite by accident. "Is that a patchy one?" I asked a friend as I grabbed kittens at random to weigh them after their rather eventful birth... And it stuck!

Apache is the doll of this litter. She hardly ever cries, but when she does, it's a tiny, raspy, very sweet little mew. Never does she fully scream, even if someone else pushes her off her spot at the milk bar, and I think that's part of the problem as to why she's not growing as quickly as the others. When the fighting gets too fierce, you see, there's a lot of squealing that goes on. This causes mum to either begin washing everyone into submission, or to get up and change position. Either act means that most kittens are knocked free of their nipples, and so the playing field is levelled again for everyone to have a crack at securing a spot. Because Apache doesn't make a song and dance about being pushed off, mum never fights her corner for her.

Apache loves to cuddle. She cuddles Millie, she cuddles humans, she cuddles her brothers and sisters. She also looooooves gentle tickling already. She'll fall over on her back as soon as you touch her now, then wave her paws merrily in the air as you give her a rub, all the while wiggling around so that that tickling finger gets good coverage.

She's learning to walk and can do so now, but very, very wobbly is she, and she'll regularly plop over in a heap. She loves to look at me (heaven knows why) but she'll literally almost break her neck just to stare up at me whenever I crawl into the pen with them all for a cuddle. She crawled into my hands today and just sat there and stared. Strange kitten!

So, that's our little Apache girl. Can you tell I have a massive soft spot for her?