It Never Ends

**Taceas** · 07-10-07, 08:37 AM

Creatures in need keep finding their way to my home...

Eaaaarly this morning as I was feeding my spiders, my husband comes home from work and immediately comes down to the basement, which he never really does. In his arms is a tiny petrified kitten.

He was driving home and on the county road just outside city limits he came upon two blue eyes glowing in the road. He couldn't see anything other than the eyes as the road has been recently paved and the kitten is pitch black.

He stopped the car and got out and the kitten stumbled off the road into the ditch, Matthew dove in and grabbed it and promptly got bitten. But he scruffed it and brought it home.

The poor thing is literally skin and bones, you can feel each vertebra, rib, and hip bones. He's pretty skittish, which is understandable and seems largely unsure of human motives. But once you get him in your arms and pet him he calms down and begins to purr.

I don't normally keep kitten food or canned cat food on hand, so right now he's eating human baby formula with some adult dry cat food soaked in it. Some schmuck signed me up for some baby crap and I keep getting samples of baby formula sent to my house. Makes great cat food.

Fortunately he doesn't have the sniffles, no goobery eyes, no fleas, and all I can see wrong aside from malnutrition is dirty and probably mite infested ears.

He also walks a bit funny with his back right leg. I'm not sure if its just malnutrition or if he was hit by a car or if he was meant to be some other animal's meal (he's got what looks like some sort of dried liquid on his back). The leg isn't broke that I can feel and doesn't cause him pain, its more or less like being unbalanced when walking.

So everyone meet Spooky...

My mother-in-law is looking for a new cat as a playmate to her lone male cat who is terribly playful and now bored as he's now an only cat. Which incidentally she got that cat through us as well. I was gassing up in 2005 and on my way back to get in the car I tripped over a scuzzy looking kitten that started purring the moment I picked him up. So is it fate? You tell me.

**Nanci** · 07-10-07, 08:43 AM

He's adorable! What a scaredy-cat look he has in those pictures! Perfect timing, just like Lore's beagle...

Nanci

**Joni Garcia** · 07-10-07, 12:01 PM

What a darling little kitten. Bet he's happy to get good meals and some love.

ArpeggioAngel · 07-10-07, 01:07 PM

What a little sweetheart. So glad that he found you guys to take care of him!

WhiteValleyHerp · 07-10-07, 03:52 PM

Generally, I'm not a "cat person"; but that little one is adorable. Kudos on ya for taking care of him.

Dale

**Dionythicus** · 07-10-07, 03:59 PM

I love black cats! Especially when they cross my path. Cats seem to find the right person at the right time. Kinda....Spooky....

**Taceas** · 07-10-07, 05:04 PM

Well little Spooky ate his belly full of formula and soaked cat food and around 7am when I was thinking of going to bed I noticed he was shivering. I guess even a full belly can't keep you warm when you are that emaciated.

So I made a pallet of blankets and had a sleepover in the aquarium room. He came over to investigate shortly after I got settled and I cuddled him up next to me under the cover where it was warm and that was all she wrote.

He spent the next 7hrs glued to my side in one fashion or another. He'd go out and eat and drink, use the litter box, and come right back rooting his way under the cover where it's warm and purr.

He's much improved today, a lot more energy and more trusting. He walks around with his little rat tail up, and even managed to squeak at me a few times before I got up.

Need to get to town for some kitten food and some canned cat food, though.

I agree with you Dionythicus, every cat we've ever had was gotten through serendipity.

supervon · 07-10-07, 07:01 PM

I love cats! My Harley could be a 3 year old version of him. What a sin, poor little thing out on the road like that, all alone. He is very lucky that you found him, and hopefully he will be very happy at your mother-in-law's place, with a big brother to teach him the ropes.

And he's using the litter pan? Did you have to show him yourself how to do that? What I mean to say is, he can't be too too young, or perhaps he was at some point being cared for in a home? Have you witnessed him cleaning himself at all?

When I got to the pet shelters, when I am looking for a cat, I have to say that I usually only bring home the strays. I love all cats, but I feel especially bad for the stray ones, because who know how long, if ever, that they have known the warmth of a good home? I like being able to restore their faith in humans as well, because when I take an animal home, I really, really spoil them...

Good luck with Spooky!

**Taceas** · 07-10-07, 11:39 PM

I've never seen a cat from any source that hasn't known how to use a litter box once shown the location. I think its instinct rather than a taught experience. Even feral cats I've seen will scratch a hole, do their business, then cover it up. I think it's just their modus operandi.

He did try to diddle in the corner this morning, but I put him in the box and he immediately started digging to China and peed. That's all the assistance I gave him, basically just showing him where it was, as it was taller than he is and he walked right by it.

supervon · 07-10-07, 11:46 PM

True, true, cats do know how to use a litter pan. A friend of mine's husband found a stray hanging around their oil rig equipment one time, and brought it home. The little one was so young, it didn't even know how to clean itself properly. There was a lot of dirt caked on it, etc and my friend actually had to clean the kitten until it got older. As well, her older cat helped out a lot cleaning him when he first came home.