Mr. B Natural: Minion and Oreo

Hello Mini

Last weekend we looked for a kitten to raise. Our reasoning is that Tora is lonely and looks sad with his recent limp that he developed trying to escape by climbing over the thorns. Of course the real reason is not that Tora is lonely and sad, but that in fact we are. We just don't want to admit it.
After answering to several ads and just missing them by a couple of minutes, finally we hit one on time, and set up a meeting to go see their kittens. They were all black and male. All born on 22nd of March, so less than 1,5 months old. They varied in size, and as we picked them up and examined them they also varied in how energetic or calm they were. We decided to go for one of the bigger ones that didn't show any physical issues like runny eyes or ears or dirty butt or whatever. He was pretty lively too. As I was putting it in our cat box to bring home, I saw that Chika was still examining the others even though we had already decided. I think after us picking one there were 6 left and none of them were going anywhere so we decided on the spot to pick 2 because they would have company growing up and risk of Tora being mean to two would be less. Plus the garden and house are big enough for 3 cats. Said and done, we picked the small size that Chika was checking as well. That one was a bit slower, or calmer depending on how you put it. Hopefully not ill or anything. Just late to develop...
Took them home and showed to Tora. His reaction was to sniff them for a few seconds and deciding he did not want to have them in his face right now, so he hissed and meowed at them and walked away. He didn't attack them or anything. And the kittens knew enough to keep their distance.
We named the bigger one Oreo, which I later nicknamed Reo, or Leo if you are Japanese. And the tiny one is names Minion, again I made it shorter by calling him Mini. Tora, Mini and Leo, different sounding names to avoid confusion. Now just to teach them (and me) their names... I still catch myself calling Mini Chubby.
They spend a couple of hours each day raising hell, and the rest of the day is spent passed out from the short but intense activities. They love to climb my legs when I am standing next to the stove making food, once they are on same height as the stove they plan to jump into the hot frying pan. Of course by then I have moved my legs far enough from the stove that even after having climbed my trousers they cannot reach the stove. I proceed to cook in this bent forward position. Naturally that didn't stop Oreo every time, as one time he still jumped though very far away, missed the stove and landed splat on his belly on the floor. Another time I caught Mini licking the bathroom DE pad so had to remove it and put it somewhere unreachable.
Tora keeps to himself, but gets more and more used to the kittens. Last night I brought a sleeping Mini to a sleeping Tora. Tora woke up and sniffed Mini a little but didn't hiss as Mini was unconscious. I gently put Mini down near Tora, it was a magical moment. Mini woke up for a short second and raised his head slowly, then crawled to Tora's butt and put his head there and went back to sleep. Tora had no choice but to just keep quite. I ran to get Chika to show her, but by then Tora had slowly removed himself from the black plague, who was still sleeping.
For some reason, Tora has stopped eating his food and only eats the kittens' food. The kittens have also shown huge interest in Tora's adult food specially for kidney care so I am having a real real hard time to make them eat what is their and not the others'. I tried putting Tora's food where it is not reachable for small kitties, and put kitten food under the sofa where Tora cannot crawl in, but Tora is not so interested in grown up food recently and would probably start to starve.
Within a couple of days the two kittens have revealed so many dangerous things in the house and every time I remedy that risky part, I wonder what new danger is to unfold next.
Today they are all alone on their own for the first time. I am nervous to get back home and see how they have done. At the same time I hope being alone without human interference helps moving things along faster and they hopefully become friends with Tora.
Leo is such a stalker, even when Tora hisses at him he doesn't back down and keeps following Tora. Poor Tora, his paw hurts and he is not in the mood to play, but still have to be nice.
Leo loves to chase everything regardless of if it moves or not. Mini, a little slower but I try to train him. They are both very black so it is difficult to get good pictures. But here are the few I managed to take so far.