Our little shadows...

It occurs to me that I haven't mentioned one of the most curious traits of the new beasts: they are almost completely silent. As far as we can tell, they're not physiologically mute: we've heard each of them meow once or twice very quietly, mostly on that first day when they were very nervous, and I've heard Jez make the birding noise a couple of times. They apparently just don't talk. No idea why that is -- whether there's a subtler physical thing that makes them very quiet, or some early trauma -- but it seems pretty consistent.

Mind, that has its upside: the two of them are remarkably quiet at night, which makes sleeping easier than I was expecting. They explore and play, but do so quietly enough to be largely unnoticeable. And they both have thoroughly healthy purrs when you get them going.

It is slightly disconcerting, though, having spent so many years with the loquacious Merlin, from whom we learned to speak fairly fluent Feline. These two are a much subtler presence around the house...

Our little shadows...

It occurs to me that I haven't mentioned one of the most curious traits of the new beasts: they are almost completely silent. As far as we can tell, they're not physiologically mute: we've heard each of them meow once or twice very quietly, mostly on that first day when they were very nervous, and I've heard Jez make the birding noise a couple of times. They apparently just don't talk. No idea why that is -- whether there's a subtler physical thing that makes them very quiet, or some early trauma -- but it seems pretty consistent.

Mind, that has its upside: the two of them are remarkably quiet at night, which makes sleeping easier than I was expecting. They explore and play, but do so quietly enough to be largely unnoticeable. And they both have thoroughly healthy purrs when you get them going.

It is slightly disconcerting, though, having spent so many years with the loquacious Merlin, from whom we learned to speak fairly fluent Feline. These two are a much subtler presence around the house...