A Tale of Two Kitties

It was the summer of 2007, I had a boyfriend who I very much wanted to marry. I also very much wanted a cat, a grey cat, to be exact.  I was talking on the phone to said boyfriend who was on his way home from work.  He was driving on the freeway when he suddenly said he needed to get off the phone.  He saw something out of the corner of his eye and stopped to get it. 

He was only five weeks old and weighed a mere half a pound.  Needless to say, he was skin and bones.  This is the first picture I ever took of him, they day we found him, on the way to the vet to get him checked out.  It turns out he was pretty healthy, other than ear mites...which meant he had to have his ears cleaned everyday.  If you have ever tried to keep a tiny cat still and clean and medicate their ears...you have felt my pain.  This is not an easy task.  Because he was so young I had to bottle feed him, I came home on all of my lunch breaks and fed and cleaned the little guy.  He was a little on the ugly side at first, very coarse scraggly hair, but I loved him.  He and I, we formed a bond very early on. 

Because of where on the freeway he was found, it was obvious that someone had put him there, maybe thrown him out a window.  His little voice was terribly hoarse from screaming and he was left with what I think was kitty post traumatic stress...fearful of the sound of cars passing by.  His voice the first couple of days made him sound like a tiny Edward G. Robinson .  Instead of meow, he said "yeah"...it was actually very entertaining, but, I digress.  As he got older, he transformed into a beautiful animal.  He definitely has his mean streak sometimes, but, this little kitt I raised from a five week old

kitten still has that special bond with me.  He sleeps with me almost every night, right up against me, keeping me warm.  We have an unspoken love for each other.  I think he knows I am the one who took care of him, I think he knows where he came from and where he is now...and however much he seems he thinks I am his slave at times, I think he is thankful for us, for our home (ok, his home, haha) and loves us.  I love him too.

Fast Forward to the summer of 2009.

The boyfriend I so much wanted to marry is now my husband.  We live comfortably with our beloved grey cat.  I go on a grocery trip with my mom and find a kitten lying in the parking lot, flailing around.  My first thought was it had been hit by a car.  Without hesitation I grabbed a towel from the trunk, scooped her up and took her to my vet.  I would pay to put the poor thing down, and stay with it, so it had someone who cared, evern if just for the last few moments of her life.

This is what she looked like on the way to the vet, the very picture I sent to my husband.  He was panting and licking her front paws, it was obvious she was in pain.  To my suprise, despite the horrendously hgh temperature, malnutrition, infection and dislocated front legs,  the vet said he thought she had a good chance of surviving. It was his guess that she had been kicked...yes, someone kicked the poor helpless animal and left her for dead in a parking lot.  She didn't have any spinal traume.  She just needed someone to nurse her back to health.  So, we called our landlord and asked if we could take her in..just long enough to make her better and find a home for her (hahaha, yea right).   A couple of days later, I took the little nine week old one anda  half pound kitten back to the vet.  Something was wrong.  She had a hernia.  It literally looked like her abdomen continued into her leg (it did, really).  The poor little thing needed surgery.  So...she got what she needed (and our savings account went bye bye)

So, after surgery and at least five weeks of being on cage rest (confined to a box so she wouldn't run around, so her legs would heal) lots and lots of antibiotics (after her infection went away she caught a virus) and lots of love, the vet declared "you have a healthy cat!"  I was SO happy!  I cried! No lie!

The poor little abused kitty quickly found her way into our hearts, and we found ourselves asking the landlords if we could keep her, which they said yes too!    It took a lot of time and patience to introduce her into our little family unit.  As three (hubby, grey kitty, and myself) became four, we realized how happy we were to have two instead of one! We had another little kitty to keep the other one company, the only problem, she hated him!  We though he would hate her!  After awhile she warmed up to him, and now, he is the coolest thing in the house...and we are the lowly servant folk.  Haha.  When we moved, she was brave for him, checked out the new place, and spent her time sitting next to him while he hid in the closet.  They sleep next to each other during the day.  They even groom each other, which I am told is rare for them not being littermates and being two years apart in age.  Both were abandoned, both were found by us, and we love both of them to pieces!  We may not have children, but we have our kitties, and that makes us very happy.    ♥