The first pet related challenges: Welcoming a kitten to the family; making kitten toys and making an obstacle course for the pet rabbits.
We have a bit of a menagerie in our house but so far in the 365 day nature play challenge, I’ve avoided challenges to do with pets. This is mainly because we’re trying to do things anyone can do without having to buy anything first. When I talked my daughter into spending every day of 2025 doing nature challenges though I did have to use a teensy weensy bribe… I promised her that if she did it every day, by the Spring we could get either a kitten or a puppy… to ‘help’.
To be honest we were probably going to do this anyway but a bit of incentive never hurt. We currently have a boy cat whose five, and three bunnies who live in the garage and destroy the back garden, so another addition isn’t a huge gear change. After much consideration we decided to go for a kitten rather than a puppy. I wasn’t sure we could manage the logistics of a dog and so we’ve been ‘borrowing a doggy‘ for the last month or so. That works well for us and really helps get B out on walks. It also confirmed that we were on the hunt for a kitten.
Both of us really want this to be B’s kitten. She’s done the usual kid role with the other pets of playing with them occasionally and leaving me to look after them. She’s old enough now to do the feeding and socialising bits. I’m hoping that as teenage years approach it will give her a bit extra emotional support and help distract her from screens.
258 – Making kitten toys
Thursday 17 and Friday 18 April. Rainy 13°C
It’s a rainy day and kitten arrival day is fast approaching so we decide to see if we can use all the bits and pieces we’ve collecting on previous nature challenges that are still around the house to make kitten toys. We find the ‘wands‘ and some shells, conkers and pine cones and then hop outside and collect lots of leaves and some feathers (before B realises she has nice coloured ones in the craft cupboard). We dig out some wool and get cracking.
B definitely triumphs by using a wand, wool and feathers to make a brilliant feather patting toy. I spend ages trying to get sticks round a conker to make a sort of rattle toy. The conker keeps escaping but I tell myself that could be fun too. We’re less successful with the leaves. B makes a complicated ‘leaf bed’ and, for some reason, puts water over it… I try a pile of leaves with conkers and shells hidden in the middle.
We have a lot of fun doing it. We’ve gone to the pet shop and bought a couple of proper ‘toys’ too and are curious to see which go down best.
257 – Welcoming a new member of the family
Saturday 19 April. Rainy 15°C
Primrose has now joined our family and is hiding in the kitchen. Our other cat, Pickle, is firmly locked out and not happy. B is worried and a bit sad. Primrose arrived late last night and cried all night for her mummy. We gave her safe places to be and warmed bedding and a toy with her mummy’s smell on it but it’s still an emotionally fraught day. B has been great at getting her food, water and kitten milk but is upset that she’s been hissed at.
As the day goes on though B rallies and I end the day feeling really proud of her. Kitty calls constantly but is scared of anyone getting too close and B calmly talks to her and reassures. By the end of the day Primrose will let B pick her up and sit on her lap and starts crying when she leaves the room. It’s a good start. It takes a couple more days for Primrose to settle properly which is probably as good as we could hope for. By day four she’s stopped miaow-ing and started prrp-ing a bit instead. Pickle calms down too. We’re waiting to see how they get on when they finally come nose to nose.
240 – Practising kitten stroking skills
Tuesday 6 May. Sunny. 15°C
Back to school today and we’re having a kitten focused challenge. Two and a half weeks in we’re all getting used to each other and Primrose (or ‘Rosie’) is getting more confident and more crazy by the day. I suspect the craziness is partly motored by her not being 100% sure of us yet – probably because she’s locked in the kitchen on her own at night.
B has gone from doting foster mum to slightly neglectful and I’m calling her out on it. B picks Rosie up a lot but isn’t so good at stroking her gently so I’m challenging her to work on that. It’s not a hard challenge! Ten minutes of focused 121 time and they’re both happier together. Two hours later and the little fluffball is fast asleep on B’s lap. Hurray.
255 – Making an obstacle course for the bunnies
Monday 21 April. Cloudy. 16°C
A few days after Primrose arrived and we think it’s time we gave our bunnies some attention. They look after themselves pretty well in the garage and have destroyed all the grass in the garden and a lot of the other plants as well. We go out and get grass for them from the common land at the back of the house but decide today they need more of a treat.
When we were away a few weeks ago our lovely neighbours who look after them made them a cardboard tunnel and I’ve remembered the obstacle courses B and I used to make for our old guinea pigs when she was little. The rabbits are bigger of course but we’ve got a bit of cardboard hanging around the house and dig it all out. We then make it into tunnels. We also find an old cardboard veg box and cut holes in each side. Finally we set it all up on the grass with the garden chairs covered in blankets providing some structure in the middle. We hide the grass in the middle…
…and they pretty much ignore it. One comes out and finds her way in but doesn’t get to the grass. We put one of them in and he comes straight out again. Rubbish! Finally we give up and move the whole thing into the garage where their interest explodes. It takes them two minutes to find their way into the tunnels and after five they’re all hopping happily round exploring. When we go in the next morning it’s all been trampled down except for the veg box which we pronounce the winner.
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