The Story

I have had several requests on the “how I got the kitten” story. I was waiting for two of my co-workers to be guest bloggers and tell the story, but they maintain that they are too busy with WORK stuff to be able to tell the tale in their own words, so I’ll have to do it for them.

On 7/25 Ritha & Christine were heading in to the building from the parking lot after lunch when they encountered Michelle from CEDD trying to lure a kitten out of the bushes. She heard it meowing and they helped her to catch it. Apparently it was quite a show. Somehow in the fracas, Michelle got bitten and the kitten finally got caught.

Ritha & Christine brought the kitten up here to accounting and turned him over to Michele (our resident cat lover who lives the closest) who took him home for safekeeping until she could get him to the shelter that evening. I was covering the front desk that day and missed out on all the fun until it was all over.

I have been thinking about getting a kitten off and on for some time. I went out to the shelter in December and have half-heartedly been looking at kitties ever since. When I heard about this little guy, my interest was peaked. Michele agreed to keep him at home another night and I talked to Greg. Greg didn’t actually say “yes” to the new kitten, but he didn’t say “no” either.

So Thursday evening I stopped at Michele’s and picked up this itty bitty orange kitten. She let me use one of those cardboard boxes that they give you to carry cats in and he was this tiny little ball of fluff in the bottom of it. He kept sliding around in the box while I was driving, so I just took him out and held him the whole way home. Wouldn’t you know that traffic would be hideous that night, but he was very quiet and well behaved and just let me hold him.

I tried to get him an appointment to see my feline vet, but they didn’t have anything available, so I took him to the 24-hour vet we use for emergency stuff. I didn’t want to bring him into the house if he had something that could make my kids sick.

He was very good at the vet. He was either scared to death or totally laid back. He just let me hold him or laid on the towel the vet put down on the counter for him. He was poked and prodded, weighed, and petted. He weighed 1.9 pounds. He purred when the vet tech listened to his heart. He didn’t so much as wiggle as she checked him over. They took him to the back to take some blood and give him his vaccines. The vets decided he was a healthy male kitten about 6-8 weeks old. Feline Leukemia and AIDs tests came back negative. They wormed him and cleaned his ears. He had ear mites so his ears were icky.

I brought him home and we set up one of the big dog crates for him to hang out in. A disposable brownie pan served as a cat box, and Greg smooshed up some of Cleo’s cat food for him. I put it in the little dish that hooks on the crate door. A soft blankie and he was all set. I held him for a bit and handed him to Greg. Greg put him on the floor and he promptly went and hid under the big cabinet thingy we have. Naturally it is the only place in the room that we couldn’t reach him. Eventually, though, I got him out and snuggled him in his little room.

The next day I brought him out before I went to work and he was really lethargic. He didn’t run or jump or play or do any of the cute things kittens normally do. I was starting to get worried that there was something wrong with him. He liked being held and purred up a storm, so I hoped he was just overwhelmed by his good fortune.

Greg sent me an email later saying that when he went to check on the kitty he noticed the food hadn’t been touched. He put a couple pieces of kibble on his hand and offered it to him and they were vacuumed right up. I guess he didn’t realize the food had been there all along on the door.

That evening he was all perked up. No more passive kitty! And from then on he hasn't stopped playing long enough to look back.

So this little orange guy has won the kitty lottery. I think we've done pretty well in choosing him. He's a little ball of fire these days. Full of kitten mischief and learning how to be the boss of the house. The dogs don't bother him in the slightest, except with Sophie snaps at him. He's fascinated with Cleo, who really wants nothing to do with him.

We are very lucky to have him. Now we just need to NAME him!