Introducing Norton and Vincent

Double trouble

Today would have been our dear Simon Cat's 10th birthday. When Simon died I made a promise that we would adopt some new feline friends in his honor in order to give some unwanted or abandoned animals a good home and a bright future. We ended up adopting two black kittens from PAWS. They do really wonderful work - rescuing adoptable dogs and cats from Philadelphia area high kill shelters and finding them good homes.

This is Norton:

The big brother. The "bad" influence. He'll ambush his brother from behind and pin him down and make him cry uncle. He's the strong-willed instigator of the two, always the first to investigate something new but also the first to chicken out and run.

This is Vincent:

Smaller, needier, more timid. Squirmy, full of purr and love, he just wants to be near you all of the time. He admires his brother and follows him around watching everything that he does before trying it himself. He takes quite a beating during their wrestling matches and squeals when he's had enough but then always goes back for more. Once in a while he'll get a good sneak attack on his brother (and I secretly cheer).

Both all black, they were pretty hard to tell apart at first. Sometimes we still have to look twice to see who is who. Aside from different personalities, Norton is larger with a few whisps of white on his belly and a couple of white whiskers but that's pretty much it. And yes, we named them after vintage British motorcycles because we like old bikes. The names actually describe them quite well - The Norton Dominator and the Vincent Black Shadow. :)

They are two very happy guys. When they are not in insane-play-all-of-the-time-and-get-into-everything-including-your-underwear mode, they are snuggly purr machines. I credit their foster mom, Sarah, with their people- friendliness. How a kitten experiences the first 8 weeks of life is a huge deciding factor on it's temperment with people later on. Obviously, these guys had a great start!

Vincent and Norton at 4-6 weeks and 8 weeks old.

I'm introducing them to the studio. I have put a bed on the table in Simon's old spot which they like to lie in, but so far the kitten craziness deters me getting any actual work done while they are there. Maybe eventually they will grow out of it and become good studio cats like our Simon was, maybe not. Either way, I love them. Welcome home, guys!