Meet the Furry Face of Sleep Deprivation

I haven't been able to sleep for the last few weeks. And this time it's not classroom nightmares, or financial woes that are keeping me awake but a sleepless ball of feline energy we've named Soba (Soba Noodle if when he's bad).

Soba Noodle: Sleep Destroyer

A friend of mine found him outside a dumpter on her way to work when he was a few days old. Because I am a huge mush and physically unable to say no to anything small, furry and in need of help I took him in and agreed to take care of him until he was weaned. He arrived as a miniature ball of cuteness.

Soba: The small and unthreatening

How could I possible say no? And after a few days, he wriggled and mewled his way into our home.

Marlowe kitten-sits

At first everything was pretty simple. Other than having to bottle feed him every few hours and one frantic trip to the vet after we couldn't get him to go to the bathroom (kittens, in case you didn't know can't go to the bathroom without the assistance of the mama cat to stimulate their bowels. And, if they don't go #2 at least once a day toxins can build up in their tiny systems and they'll die. Thankfully, Marlowe was glad to help us in this department and really enjoyed licking the Soba's butt) Soba was no trouble at all.

And then he started to walk. This is where the trouble started.

Soba investigates  Marlowe's food bowl

Our lives would never be the same again.



Soba helps with the shopping

Our cute little ball of kitten fluff has morphed into a raging tide of feline hysterics. He'll eat anything left out on the counter. Butter, guacamole, cream cheese, bread products, and french fries are at the top of his favorite foods list. Leave any of these unattended and I guarantee they will disappear in 5 seconds flat. He likes scaling door frames. He is the bane of Boyfriend's potted plants, Soba seems to think that the dirt is his own personal playground. He likes nothing more to wrestle with Milo in the middle of the night, and our bed is their favorite ring. And last week I came home to this.


Cake Destruction

 To your right is the remains of a red velvet cake with vanilla cream cheese frosting that I had whipped up the night before. To protect it from hungry furry jaws we covered it with a large Pyrex bowl. To your left you can see the remains of my large Pyrex bowl shattered on the kitchen floor, knocked on the ground by my youngest animal in his quest for cake.

Though he is clinically insane, I still love my little furball. He's not like other cats. He likes to hang out between the shower curtain and liner while we take showers. He loves the bathroom. He talks, constantly and can jump like an NBA All-Star. He's convinced he's a dog and can take on Marlowe in a wrestling match despite being a quarter of the dog's size.

I just hope he grows out of his more ridiculous quirks like midnight wrestling on us while we sleep and running laps through the house at all hours of the night before we go clinically insane from sleep deprivation. I hope this is just a phase of kittenhood that he'll grow out of...someday...soon.