OT: DH Rescued a Kitten! long

Posted by Tia Mary on July 15, 2009, 12:02 am

Hi Guys,
Well, DH returned home from a 2 day business trip this PM. He
walked in the door and the first words out of his mouth were "We have an
emergency!" I'm thinking he's had an accident and start to fly up out
of my chair only to find him gently walking into the family room with a
tiny little kitten clasped to his chest! He immediately give me the
little guy who snuggles up to my chest as I wrap him in my lap blanket.
DH goes off to get a saucer of milk while I inspect the little guy.
It is a boy kitty and he has been hurt something awful! ALL of the
fur around his little neck from one ear to the other in a t least an
inch wide swath has been ripped away. He's started to heal and there's
minimal scabbing but a lot of dried, raw looking angry flesh. DH
returns with the milk and the little guy hunkers down and starts to
drink for all he's worth. I would be hard pressed to put him at 8 weeks
old. Once he's had his fill of milk, he snuggles down and goes right to
sleep while I hold him close and pet the top of his little head.
He's a little white and gray tabby and DH found him about a mile or
two from the house on a busy street. DH first thought he was looking at
a leaf skitter across the street but when it wobbled and changed
direction, he noticed it was a kitten. He stopped the truck and went to
check and found the little guy hunkered down by someone's garbage --
probably looking for food! He let DH pick him up and did nothing more
than mewl a bit all the way home.
After holding him on my lap for about 20 minutes, I needed to come
upstairs and he let me carry him along with no problem. He was likely
too weak to be able to do much other than meow. Once up here and at the
computer, I had the little guy on my lap wrapped in a large towel. DH
brought up the saucer of milk, got another of water and then brought up
a little bit of soft food -- maybe a level tbsp. as I didn't want to
give the little guy too much at first and have him ralph it all up!
Little Guy (his new name for now) immediately started to strain to get
to the food and when I rotated the little plate to make it easier for
him to get at it, he growled for all he was worth -- LOLOL! He finished
the food, had a bit more milk and then snuggled down for another bit of
a rest.
After that food stayed down successfully I had DH bring in a bit of
dry food. The pieces are a bit large for Little Guy but he managed to
eat every last bit! After some more milk, a bit of water and another
little nap, I decided it was bed time. Besides, I needed to have my
bath and get to bed! So we got a huge box and put another towel in it
along with a smaller box with litter and the smallest cat bed with
Little Guy in it with his towel. The milk and water are ian there too
and I covered the top with a screen. No problem keeping Little Guy in
-- he's too weak to climb out, I think -- I don't want the other cats
trying to get inside to see who this newbie is!!
He got up, had a bit more milk & water and then went right back to
sleep and hasn't made a sound since and that was about 1 1/2 hrs. ago.
I left a message at my vet about him and said I would phone first thing
tomorrow AM and I wanted to bring him in ASAP to have his poor, wounded
little neck looked at.
So -- NO I won't be keeping him -- I don't do male cats, just female
and three cats is one more than my limit. We will foster him until his
neck is all healed and hopefully grows some hair back. If the vet can't
find a home for him, then we will take him to Cats-In-The-Cradle, the
no-kill shelter that we got our two new babies from. I did call DD and
let her know about Little Guy. The SMDGD desperately wants to have a
kitty and I think this kitty would be great. The problem will be with
Steven, my DSonIL. He gets all huffy when discussing a new cat. He
says HE wants to be the one to chose the next cat. I bet that Raechel
(the SMDGD) will be able to have some say about this. Especially
considering that HER GrandFather SAVED this little kitty from going to
Kitty Heaven, etc. I told DD that if they should want Little Guy,
GrandFather could bring him to AZ when he comes in September to meet me
and help close up the cabin :-).
Regardless of WHO ends up with Little Guy, he could use some "good
stuff" from everyone so that he heals up OK and overcomes any trauma. I
told DH this is what we get for being on a first name basis with St.
Frank -- LOLOL! Needless to say, until he is all healed, he will be
staying HERE with his new foster family. And the other cats didn't seem
to mind his smell or anything -- imagine that!! Miracles never cease to
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--
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Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about
their whiskers!
Visit my Photo albums at http://community.webshots.com/user/tiamary

Posted by Lucille on July 15, 2009, 7:06 am

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Lucky little guy to find a great foster mommy like you. Good luck to both
of you. I hope he heals wonderfully and goes on to a long, healthy life.

Lucille

Posted by Trish Brown on July 15, 2009, 7:14 am

Tia Mary wrote:
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Please give your DH a kiss from me! What a lovely man! Many would
simply have driven past and not even bothered.

How come you're not keen on boy cats, Tia Mary? If you get them - ah -
disconcatenated, they don't smell or do anything majorly objectionable.
And boy cats (even though, bear in mind, I am *not* a cat fan) make
adorable pets. They have a sort of - I dunno - ingénue quality that
queen cats don't have.

Our two girls are *so* up themselves, they just about disappear! Barfy
parks herself smak in the middle of the ironing board and defies anyone
to turn the iron on! Minerva does the 'I am dead' thing when you try to
lift her off her happy-place on the top step. You'd think she was the
custodian of the gates of h*ll or something!

I reckon Fate sent this little bloke your way and hope you'll think
twice about keeping him. How can you *bear* to give a gorgeous little
kitten (of which I am not fond, but recognise the tendency in others)
away? Bet your DH will be distraught if you do: you should keep him and
call him Mephistopheles (the kitten, not DH). What about the effect on
his little baby psyche if you, his saviour, reject him in the end?

When I was fourteen, we had eight cats.

Patches - white with black ears - stray picked up at the bus stop by the
Ugly Sister.

Jocasta - large tortoiseshell tabby - *very* sick baby (cat 'flu) found
by me on the railway line.

Figaro - black and white - another stray brougth home by Ugly, from
school this time.

Eliza (Doolittle) - longhaired calico - product of Tom and Mary, the
stable cats at our riding school.

Whiskey and Soda - black and white - Mum and I found them abandoned in
Minmi Bush and coaxed them to the car with mince that was meant for tea.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern - *huge* marmalade toms - dropped off as
unwanted kittens by someone at the Vet's (where I worked part-time). I
*couldn't* let a pair of redheads go, now could I?

I got the job of feeding them every night and also of trawling the rose
garden for their - ah - leavings. I do feel this has a lot to do with my
more adult preference for dogs. Also, the sensation of stepping on a
warm, moist hairball in the middle of the night in your bare feet is not
one I would recommend...

Anyway, let us know how he fares, won't you? Poor little bloke.

--
Trish Brown

Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Posted by Tia Mary on July 15, 2009, 9:05 am

Trish Brown wrote:
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I have had male cats in the past -- all of them neutered. Even with
being neutered, they tended to want to go outside and prowl about and
eventually get into trouble and come home with some sort of damage from
being picked on. I don't let my cats outside now so that wouldn't be a
problem. But, what is a problem is that males often never get over the
tendency to spray and mark their territory. THAT is not acceptable, is
a very difficult behaviour to change and is the main reason I don't have
male cats.
Little Guy goes to the Baby Dr. in about 30 minutes. He's currently
in the guest bathroom with all of his accessories including the cat
"playhouse" and all of the toys the girls don't bother with anymore.
When we find him a forever home, I'm sure it won't be easy to send him
on his way. He wants to be held all the time and if he lays eyes on
either of us, he sets up such a ruckus, one of us has to go pick him up
for a cuddle. He'll make someone a wonderful kitty -- just not us.
Unless, of course, DH decides "we" can manage four cats -- meaning HE
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Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about
their whiskers!
Visit my Photo albums at http://community.webshots.com/user/tiamary

Posted by Mary on July 15, 2009, 9:52 am

Both of my critters were rescued, and I am so happy to have them here
with me I can't imagine either being anywhere else! First came my
mixed breed mutt I named Clara. She was born with a short, hairless,
twisted front leg with deformed ankle and foot, and was rejected by
her mother. The people with the litter were going to just let her
die, but she was rescued by neighbor children, who took her to their
grandparents. They certainly didn't need another dog to add to their
3, but took her in, fed her, and gave her lots of attention. Well,
Grandma worked for me and knew I was planning to get a dog from the
local shelter soon, and asked if I would take her, so of course I
agreed. Clara's leg did grow as she grew, and grew hair, too. She
walks and runs rather lopsided, but gets around just fine and doesn't
seem to know she has a problem. She is almost 8 years old now and a
treasure!

Second came the cat! Adele (named for Fred Astair's sister) is a
tuxedo cat who showed up at my sister's house and wouldn't leave.
Nobody was looking for her, none of the local vets knew her, and my
sister couldn't keep her because of severe allergy. So she went
through lots and lots of tissues while trying to find a real home for
the cat. I got acquainted with the cat and also tried to find a real
home for her where I live, 80 miles away. Meanwhile, the cat settled
in and neither of us could find a place for the cat. Finally, I said
what-the-hell, and Adele lives with me. I had her checked over
immediately at the vet and was planning to have her spayed, but she
had already been spayed! The vet thinks Adele was either a runaway or
a throwaway, and she is probably about 2 years old now. She is a
sweet, gentle, clean, non-destructive little thing, simply gorgeous,
and an important part of my home now. We have no real clues about her
past, but I think she lived where there was a piano, because every
time I sit down to play she comes running, jumps up beside me, and
plays the top keys. She is, of course, a professional power-napper,
and at the moment is napping in the bathroom sink, which I gave up
trying to use and tossed an old towel into for her comfort. She would
probably like it even more if I would remove the faucet . . .

As to how the dog and the cat are getting along, it was a challenge
early on. Clara has always wanted to be friends, but early on Adele
certainly did not, which we assume is at least partly because of past
encounters with dogs when she lived on the streets. However, they
have become peaceful co-existants, and appear to be on the way to
becoming real friends!

I really believe that the best pets are often the ones that "just
happen."

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