Sucker

Most people know that I'm a sucker for animals, especially cats. Well, it seems as though stray kittens have sensed this about me and decided that I'm the one to come to for help.

My mom and I were taking a walk mid-August and heard the most pathetic meowing from the weeds. I investigated, and we acquired Cleo. Funny story: we thought Cleo was a girl until this past Friday when I brought "her" in for vaccines and discovered, nope, Cleo is a boy. Happy gender reveal!

The vet figures Cleo is around three months old. His mother was actually found deceased up the road later on that evening. I'm hoping the rest of his siblings found their way to somewhere. (Right now Cleo is sitting in my lap trying to disturb my typing to the best of his ability.)

We were having family over for dinner Saturday night, and the kids were playing outside. They found three kittens in the weeds by our trailer/scrap pile. Early Thursday morning, their mother had broken it's arm and back and had to be surrendered. She didn't make it. We didn't realize she had kittens, or we would have been on the lookout for them. With the kids excitedly dancing around, the adults managed to get the kittens into a box and take them inside. The black kitten, who Tea affectionately named Thunder, was the most vocal of the group. It was the runt of the litter, and I think it needed to be vocal to get what it needed. I think my sister-in-law was pretty attached to Thunder, as well. That kitten did have quite a charismatic attitude.

After a lot of calling around, I found someone who could foster the kittens. Nick and I managed to syringe feed them some regular milk, but they needed kitten formula through a bottle, and I just can't dedicate the time needed for that. I was amazed at how my other animals left these little babies alone. And now that their little bellies are full, they seem very content in their foster home.

Oh, good grief they're cute, but that little runt was so noisy! I'll take my lazy cats any day! I do love animals, but I don't want to become one of those people who will be known as a safety spot to drop off your unwanted animals at.

We're getting Lucy training coming up in November. She's such an anxiety-ridden dog. When we have company over, she just goes ballistic. So I signed her up for a 10-week doggy daycare and training course. I really hope it helps.

There's my animal stories. I'm going to snuggle Cleo some more, since he's happily asleep in my lap, half on the computer and partly on my arm.

Until next week's dirt...