Kitty

On Thursday night, I as I was dropping the Former Spanish Tutor off at her apartment, a teeny, tiny kitten found us. It was about the size of an orange and he came and stood about 2 yards away and cried, in a loud and demanding meow. We tried to catch it and it ran and settled into the tire of the nearest car--inside the tire. Former Spanish Tutor brought bread and milk to tempt in out, both of which it ignored, and utilmately, I fished it out and carried it home in a little cloth bag that she donated for the purpose, with something written on the side in Arabic. The kitten was clearly terribied and it arched its tiny back and hissed at me when we got back to my house and I let it run around free inside the bathtub, where I made it a bed inside a dishpan and brought it a dish of water. Greta was fascinated about what was behind the door and ultimately, I let her in to see the kitty. Her entire body vibrated with eagerness, every little bit of her, especially her ears, alert. The kitten kept up with the remarkably, considering its size, cries and eventually, Greta and I closed it into the bathroom and went to sleep. (Or I did--I think that she spent the entire night listening to the sounds from the bathroom.)

In the morning, we went to the vet, because Greta had to be dropped off for surgery. While signing Greta's medical forms, I let her meet the cat more formally (at this point, I knew that it did not have fleas and the vet's staff had assured me that cat's can't pass disease to dogs. Greta was so excited about the cat that she climbed up on to the exam room counter to be near it and kept licking it and trying to pick it up in her mouth. The kitten responded by placing its head against Greta's breast bone and rubbing scent on her. I found out that he was a boy. The plan had been to leave the kitten at the vet, but they could not promise what would happen if no one had claimed him by the end of the day, so I took him home.

He wandered around the house, this little bitty creature about the length of a mass market paperback. What he wanted was clearly to hang and explore. I wanted that kitten so badly that I had to call Knitting Angel. "I need your help with something hard," I said. She was clearly thrilled. "I can't have a cat, no matter how cute it is and how badly it needs a home, right? I asked. "Think about having a sore throat and a hacking cough every day for the rest of your life," she said. I have visited Knitting Angel, Milo, and Chloe twice in the past year and while the first time, I managed okay, this most recent time, I had a very hard time with the allergies. "You like cats," she said, "but you are allergic. They make you sick." And so, I got out the camera, took pictures of the little fellow, and made signs. They went up at the hardware store and 2 vet's offices. The little guy was so cute that I could feel myself getting attached and started looking in to cheap vet care.

That night, at about 5:30, Greta's vet called to tell me that she was out from surgery and that I could come get her in an hour. I asked if he had heard about the kitten adventure and if the cheap clinic was any good. He offered to take in the kitty and give it some free shots. I dropped the kitty off when I collected Greta. They have promised to call me before the kitty's number comes up.

Good luck kitty. It breaks my heart that I could not keep you.


(Kitty on the dog bed.)