Hello. I was sent to this site by a mod at the RabbitsOnline.net forums. I am known over there as Tiny'sSis.
Why am I here? Well . .
My family has always had cats. Twice that I can remember, we've had cats give birth - once in my mother's lap. For the last ten or twelve years, we've only had cats who were already neutered - or we had them fixed ourselves as soon as we could afford it.
12 years ago Alexander, my heart-cat, was dropped into my life. I absolutely loved him, and it broke my heart to leave him with my parents to go to college. Before Alex, I had always really liked cats, but I really LOVED him. My parents had two other cats - Sam and Mitzi - and one dog, Dark Lady/Ladybug.
A year or two ago, my mom fell in love with rabbits and became a breeder of Lionheads. She is a very careful researcher and always tries to provide the best care possible, and I've learned a lot from her.
Last month, Alex died.
When I found him, he was living out in the countryside, about six months old. He was ecstatic to be taken in by humans - he must have been abandoned. Even though Mom wanted him to be a house-kitty, though, he was never really happy unless he was allowed outside some of the time. He was never feral but he never stopped loving the outdoors.
I was home for a visit when he started showing signs of poisoning . . probably anti-freeze.
I had to go back to my college town so I could go back to work . . he died a few days later.
Now I'm back home with Mom and Dad. The reasons are many and complicated but I will be staying with them indefinitely. But I really didn't plan to get another cat. I have been loving on Sam and Mitzi and Ladybug and all of the rabbits my Mom has, and really couldn't see any way to replace Alex anyway. He was . . special.
So, we went to the feed store .. and we've barely been there five minutes when an older woman pulls up. I'm looking at some rabbits for sale, making sure they're healthy and have been well socialized, and she looks at me. "Do you work here?" she asks. No, I say. "Would you like a kitten?"
She's holding this scrawny little grey kitty who looks to be about four weeks old. Good heavens, what is she doing with a kitten that young?? How can she be trying to give it away?
She lives out in the countryside and feeds feral cats. Most of them look pretty malnourished so she puts out dry food for them . . One of them was a momma cat who didn't look any healthier than the rest. The woman says the cat 'didn't have enough food/milk, so she brought her kitten to me for food'. The woman took the kitten away and started feeding it formula and a little dry food, and got medicine from a vet for an eye problem the kitten has. For some reason, though, she wasn't able to take care of the kitten itself so she brought it to the feed store to see if anyone could take care of it.
We guessed the kitten was about four weeks old (the lady had no idea . . 'no more than a couple of months I'd guess?' Not a cat lady, I'm afraid.) I was really unhappy about it being away from its mother but it was at least partially weaned, and I couldn't in good conscience send it back out into the wild. So, with much sighing from my dad, we brought the kitty home with fresh kitten formula and some wet kitten food.
That was today.
We're not sure if it's a boy or girl, and we haven't quite decided on a name. Tommy Lee Jones was tossed around but right now it/he is just Kitty. It has open eyes, walks around, has small but sharp teeth (=^.^=) and poops on its own. Its eyes are still a dark blue. We are feeding it every four hours or so, and it has slept a LOT but is starting to get up and walk around a bit. We have only barely introduced it to the two other cats - we are planning to take it to the vet very soon to test for feline leukemia, etc. etc. . . and maybe get an idea if it's as young as 3.5 weeks, or as old as 4.5 . . It seems pretty tame - it just climbed into my lap from its little nest-box. I'm worried about the gunk in its eyes - it looks somewhat like conjunctivitis in a rabbit? - but we have the medicine that the lady gave us, and I've put a drop in each eye. The vet she talked to said to do that twice a day. The kitten seems alert, and watches/listens to movement. I'm keeping it nice and warm and hoping it grows big and strong. Thankfully, its paws aren't very large for its body. No monster-cat here! I am going to start saving up now for its neutering, and when I get another job (soon) I will take over its expenses from my parents. If the kitty is healthy it will get to socialize with our cats, yay . .
I would not be surprised if we end up having a few complications with this kitty, so I thought I would go ahead and introduce it/myself so that if I need to ask for help, y'all will have some idea of the situation. Thanks for your patience with my long post. I may post some pictures soon, or I may just go quiet and lurk for a while . . .
-Teneko/Temiko
Why am I here? Well . .
My family has always had cats. Twice that I can remember, we've had cats give birth - once in my mother's lap. For the last ten or twelve years, we've only had cats who were already neutered - or we had them fixed ourselves as soon as we could afford it.
12 years ago Alexander, my heart-cat, was dropped into my life. I absolutely loved him, and it broke my heart to leave him with my parents to go to college. Before Alex, I had always really liked cats, but I really LOVED him. My parents had two other cats - Sam and Mitzi - and one dog, Dark Lady/Ladybug.
A year or two ago, my mom fell in love with rabbits and became a breeder of Lionheads. She is a very careful researcher and always tries to provide the best care possible, and I've learned a lot from her.
Last month, Alex died.
When I found him, he was living out in the countryside, about six months old. He was ecstatic to be taken in by humans - he must have been abandoned. Even though Mom wanted him to be a house-kitty, though, he was never really happy unless he was allowed outside some of the time. He was never feral but he never stopped loving the outdoors.
I was home for a visit when he started showing signs of poisoning . . probably anti-freeze.
I had to go back to my college town so I could go back to work . . he died a few days later.
Now I'm back home with Mom and Dad. The reasons are many and complicated but I will be staying with them indefinitely. But I really didn't plan to get another cat. I have been loving on Sam and Mitzi and Ladybug and all of the rabbits my Mom has, and really couldn't see any way to replace Alex anyway. He was . . special.
So, we went to the feed store .. and we've barely been there five minutes when an older woman pulls up. I'm looking at some rabbits for sale, making sure they're healthy and have been well socialized, and she looks at me. "Do you work here?" she asks. No, I say. "Would you like a kitten?"
She's holding this scrawny little grey kitty who looks to be about four weeks old. Good heavens, what is she doing with a kitten that young?? How can she be trying to give it away?
She lives out in the countryside and feeds feral cats. Most of them look pretty malnourished so she puts out dry food for them . . One of them was a momma cat who didn't look any healthier than the rest. The woman says the cat 'didn't have enough food/milk, so she brought her kitten to me for food'. The woman took the kitten away and started feeding it formula and a little dry food, and got medicine from a vet for an eye problem the kitten has. For some reason, though, she wasn't able to take care of the kitten itself so she brought it to the feed store to see if anyone could take care of it.
We guessed the kitten was about four weeks old (the lady had no idea . . 'no more than a couple of months I'd guess?' Not a cat lady, I'm afraid.) I was really unhappy about it being away from its mother but it was at least partially weaned, and I couldn't in good conscience send it back out into the wild. So, with much sighing from my dad, we brought the kitty home with fresh kitten formula and some wet kitten food.
That was today.
We're not sure if it's a boy or girl, and we haven't quite decided on a name. Tommy Lee Jones was tossed around but right now it/he is just Kitty. It has open eyes, walks around, has small but sharp teeth (=^.^=) and poops on its own. Its eyes are still a dark blue. We are feeding it every four hours or so, and it has slept a LOT but is starting to get up and walk around a bit. We have only barely introduced it to the two other cats - we are planning to take it to the vet very soon to test for feline leukemia, etc. etc. . . and maybe get an idea if it's as young as 3.5 weeks, or as old as 4.5 . . It seems pretty tame - it just climbed into my lap from its little nest-box. I'm worried about the gunk in its eyes - it looks somewhat like conjunctivitis in a rabbit? - but we have the medicine that the lady gave us, and I've put a drop in each eye. The vet she talked to said to do that twice a day. The kitten seems alert, and watches/listens to movement. I'm keeping it nice and warm and hoping it grows big and strong. Thankfully, its paws aren't very large for its body. No monster-cat here! I am going to start saving up now for its neutering, and when I get another job (soon) I will take over its expenses from my parents. If the kitty is healthy it will get to socialize with our cats, yay . .
I would not be surprised if we end up having a few complications with this kitty, so I thought I would go ahead and introduce it/myself so that if I need to ask for help, y'all will have some idea of the situation. Thanks for your patience with my long post. I may post some pictures soon, or I may just go quiet and lurk for a while . . .
-Teneko/Temiko
