The kitty life.

So I got a new job, but more importantly we rescued a feral kitten!! For anyone who knows me, I detest all things cat. For anyone who knows my brother, you'll know it's because I had a really, really, really scary dream where a cat controlled my arms to make me fight another cat. Scarring. I've hated cats ever since, which is unfortunate when I'm married to a man who always grew up with several cats lounging, meowing, and scratching around. I don't like when a cat kneads me. I don't like when a cat "love nips" me. I don't like when they rub their hair off on me, stare me down, or bring dead animals to my door step. I don't like cats.

I was taking the trash out, which involves walking to an alley on the side of our building that borders a decrepit house with a big stinky garden in the back. I'm serious, I think they fertilize with human feces. I'm holding my breath as I walk toward the dumpster, and I hear this meow, meow, moew. I toss in the bag and dodge the disturbed swarm of flies, and I look over into the back yard and see the most pitiful little kitten meowing with every exhale. I snap a picture (to Instagram of course) and push my conscience down, thinking that the neighbors don't take care of their house or cats. As I'm getting picked up to make seven freezer crock-pot meals at a friend's house (a whole nother blog post) I do text Brian and tell him that if he still hears the kitten meowing, he should probably rescue it.

I come home later to a quiet parking lot; no meows. Brian didn't even get my text, but we decide to go over and see if the kitten is still there. The flashlight beam reveals a tiny white furball huddled under the porch stairs, mouth opening but no sound coming out. Brian proceeds to spend the next hour trying to coax the kitty out while I hold the flashlight. Even at this point, when Brian has finally pulled the kitten close enough to me that I can reach between the porch slats and pull her out, my fear of cats nearly stays my hand. But I reach down and grab her.

And thus begins our kitty life. For the first 24 hours she meows constantly. We finally get the right kind of kitten milk that she can drink (kittens get explosive diarrhea with lactose), and we get a little tiny bottle, and she finally latches on, and she can eat! We're relieved.

Brian is paranoid of fleas since his mission when he had an apartment with fleas, so we give her a bath in dish soap (which is supposed to kill the fleas). It didn't quite kill all of them, but we pulled at least twenty fleas, dead and alive, off the tiny kitty. She struggled at first but then submitted to the flea comb and tweezers. I felt much better about petting her after that. We also had to make her go to the bathroom at the beginning, but now she either goes on my mat by the kitchen sink or in her kitty litter. She's learning.

She's super playful! She'll roll over on her back and then claw and bite at your hands when you pet her tummy. I don't like it but Brian does. We're constantly warning the other to not step on her because she moves around silently. She always passes out after eating. She's just learning how to scamper and she looks like a little bunny hopping around. She loves sitting on feet.

All around it's like having a little baby that we don't have to pay for day care for and whose development is sped up into a single month where she takes a bottle, goes to solids, and learns to use kitty litter. We hope that by the time we hand her off to a family in our ward in a month that she'll be litter trained and fully weaned.

We did find out that the mom is a neighborhood cat and had three other kittens under the porch in a storage place, near where we found our kitty. The guys that found the other kittens said they see the mom there sometimes. I'm not sure what's become of those little kittens; I hope they're all right.

So we have her for a month! Brian is more patient with her and nicer to her, but I'll feed her and cuddle her. I love her purr. I was so happy the first time I heard it after so much incessant meowing. If you're in the area and want to meet her, stop on by!