In honor of Kiko’s acceptance into the household, we broke out the Kitty City cat tunnel, which at one time could have been zipped together with a cat bed in the center. The bed part is long gone, and it’s next to impossible to zip the two lengths of tunnel together and keep them zipped as the cats play in and out of it.

It has been quite a hit. And it encouraged Kiko to play chase-chase games with Kinikini, and with Kali. Bessie still hasn’t started playing with Kiko, but they’re friendly with each other whenever they meet.

Let’s see. We took Kiko for another vet visit. This time, she had her remaining stitches removed after being spayed two weeks ago, and she had the second dose of two vaccines for feline viruses. Ouch! But this was her first checkup with our regular vet, Ann Sakamoto, who pronounced her a healthy cat except for some gingivitis. We came home with some dog & cat toothpaste, and instructions for starting introducing “Healthy Mouth” into the cats’ water. We’re trying harder to introduce these into her life because she still has most of her teeth to be saved. The other cats, well, they paid a price for their time in the cat colony. All the other three have lost a majority of their teeth, sad to say.

Duke, our diabetic siamese who died several years ago, was toothless for more than a few of his golden years, and it didn’t seem to slow him down. He preferred to eat dry kibbles, which always amazed me. And the current cohort of felines also refuses to let their dental conditions dictate diet or preferences.

In any case, enjoy today’s Feline Friday. And, if you missed it, jump back to yesterday’s prelude as well.