Friday, August 07, 2020

Meet A

Two weeks ago Nighean Dhonn came home after being gone for only a short time on her evening walk with Poppy The Great.  "Dad", she said, "I found a kitten."

Sigh.  I am a sucker.  I rescue spiders and mosquito hunters in my house.  So out we went to see a small kitten.

There he was, hiding under a bush.

He was obviously far from home; I could count every rib on his ribcage.  We shifted positions and I slowly approached him; he took off down the road and dodged into an side yard.  We followed him down and found him, huddled under a pile of wood.  I grabbed him out; he hissed at me and gave me a bit on my index finger.  We walked back to the house, my hand oozing blood and him trying to bite and claw me, growling at the indignity of being carried.
A quick trip to the store for litter and food later, he was crouched behind the bathroom door, hissing and growling at every opportunity.  The food I brought was devoured when I was safely out of the room; the litter box was used.  He had poop on his back legs and an obviously prolapsed rectum.
This went on over the weekend:  we went in, he hissed and growled, but would let himself be pet.  Nighean Dhonn  went in to read to him to get him used to a human voice.

I checked in with The Ravishing Mrs. TB, who was out of town moving Nighean Gheal into her aparment.  "See if there is a shelter you can take him to" she asked.  I reached out - but thanks to The Plague of 2020, responses were delayed and appointments had to be made to drop animals off.  My fear is that he would be labeled feral and shoved away; the animal shelter said "Keep trying to pet him and get him used to people".
Over the weekend we kept trying - at one point he completely disappeared from bathroom and we tore the house apart looking for him (turns out he climbed under the bottom drawer of our bathroom sinks and drawers where there was a space; we would not have found him but Poppy the Great did).

Finally, on Sunday evening, we found a flea on him.  That was it:  I picked up and dunked him in the sink, hissing and growling, to wash him, his fleas, and his poop.  I pulled him out, wet, put him in a big towel, and started drying him off.

Suddenly, he started purring.
After that, he never growled again.  Only purring, only ever so happy to see anyone - so happy that he won the heart of The Ravishing Mrs TB (who apparently was looking at kittens unbeknownst to me).
A small investment at the vet,  two time medication applications daily, and multiple butt washings later, he has moved his way into our home.  Poppy The Great is almost overwhelming in her eagerness to meet him (mostly she just licks him over and over).  Every time we go into the bathroom, he is always there, purring and ready for a pet (or, more recently, to attack your leg).
I do not really remember actually asking for a cat to rescue.  But now that he is here, I cannot imagine the house without him.

17 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:23 AM

    Kittens really do take a lot of patience, especially a feral one, but it appears its owner is a good guy. I hope you and your family become fast friends.

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    1. Thanks Anonymous. The vet thought he was about six weeks old when we found him, so not sure how long (if) he was feral. In our neighborhood, a coyote could take a cat as easily as it got lost. Either way, he came around so quickly I am not sure he was feral for long.

      He is quickly embedding himself into our lives. And we are grateful.

      Thanks for stopping by!

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  2. That's a good thing you did.

    A lovely cat.

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    1. Thank you Sarge (he says gruffly, attempting to put at bay any sense of doing the right thing). As I try to tell myself and others, all these problems in the world and no one wants to do anything at all unless it is a complete and perfect action or all encompassing. What you can, where you are, with what you have, said some smart person.

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  3. Aw, what a great post! Poor little thing must have been miserable until you got him properly washed and fed ("Somebody cares about me). Funny how the things we need are rarely what we ask for.

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    1. Leigh, I think you are right (although it would have never occurred to me in a million years that washing and drying a cat would do it.

      For me, things I always need are scarcely the things I ever ask for (I am such a poor judge of my own needs).

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  4. I grew up on a farm south of town on the first major gravel road that cross the highway. For that reason, we always had our share of stray cats and dogs. The cats we just left outside around the farmstead so they could keep the mouse and bird populations down in the various sheds. The dogs however always seemed to worm their way into our family. I can think of six that we've had over the years and not one of them were ours from the start.

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    1. Ed, I volunteer at the rabbit shelter and most of our rabbits have been rescue animals. This is, I suppose, only a logical extension.

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  5. Good work, team!!!

    I am absolutely GREEN with jealousy!!!

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    1. Thanks Glen. I think he will be a good cat too.

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  6. God bless you for that. 🙂
    Since you have rabbits I wanted you to see this, just in case.

    https://www.hobbyfarms.com/rhdv2-rabbit-ebola-devastating-rabbits/?fbclid=IwAR1jPnUKyFnrFtq7GgOITO6ZBbER906ZNzxEfIl7ky_jqSHhYdaUSEK82Es.

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    1. Thanks Linda. We are lucky as our vet was able to get the vaccine on a permit so both of the rabbits have been vaccinated.

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    2. Glad to hear that, TB. :)

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  7. Please remove the collar and bell until she is older. Kittens that size get into tight places and the collar gets caught and they hang themselves. Ask me how I know this.

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    1. Thanks for the heads up Tewshooz. I will certainly pass it along for when he is unsupervised.

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  8. great work! I am not a cat person but a couple of years ago I nurtured a pregnant cat our from under my apartmnt building..got her and then her kittens to trust me and then found them homes and turned them into the spca..I am with you..I canot help but help any animal in trouble. Looks like a real cutie!

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    1. You are good man, EGB.

      Yes, it is probably in our nature. I should do an update. He is becoming quite the handful.

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