Kitten attack.

Meet Patches.

 Patches, aka Gracie, is a blue tabby and white kitten with a lemur-like ringed tail.  She is Mitten's sister, but Patches couldn't be more different.  Rene adopted her in December 2011 from the Pima Animal Care Center.

 Gracie spent the first month of her new life in Rene's bedroom with her sister.  The first two weeks they were recovering from an upper respiratory infection; the next two weeks Ninja was recovering after he caught it by playing with the kittens under the door.

 Introductions didn't go so well.  Gracie, upon seeing the large black Ninja in the living room, stopped suddenly and literally shrieked at the top of her lungs.  Ninja ran in terror, and it took weeks for them to be able to be friends.  Now they are fighting buddies.

Patches has a unique personality.  She is sweet, always asking her humans for pets, but she is also a tough little biter.  She almost seems detached and stuck in her little world, but she spends countless hours playing with her sister and Ninja.  She is at her cutest when asking for pets: as you reach down to pet her, she stands up on her back legs and raises her head high in the air to reach your hand.

(sniffer face)

Meet Ninja.

 Ninja is a ten-month old, eleven-plus pound black kitten.  I have known him since he was about three months old, and it has been so much fun watching him grow up.

Ninja was born to my boyfriend's brother's cats in April 2011.  He was the only kitten in his litter, and he has spent most of his life around only Rene and me.

As I think you can tell in the pictures, Ninja has a pretty goofy personality.  At first, he was all claws and teeth, and he was hard to touch or hold.  I diligently gave him "sweet boy lessons," which consisted of lots of hugs and kisses, and now he is quite a bit easier to interact with.

 Ninja was an only child at Rene's until December.  We spoiled him with tons of toys, and he thought he owned the apartment and everything in it.  Everything that was brought home, be it a box, a table, or anything else, was instantly claimed as his own.

 I knew Ninja needed company to keep him happy and to burn up some of his energy, so I kept asking Rene to get him some friends.  In December, Rene brought home the two girls, and Ninja has never been happier.

Ninja is very special to me.  He is the first kitten I had been around in years, and there's nothing like playing with a little wild kitten.  Not only is he wild, but he looks like a little black panther.  Everything on him is solid black, except three things: his yellow eyes, his white toenails, and random white hairs on his chest and legs.  He often blends into the shadows or black furniture; he truly is a ninja.