Yes, that's right, we have a kitten!!! Her name is Penny and she's adorrrrable and cute and sweet and fun!! Here is the story of Penny:
I was at work (I work out at the lake, remember?) and I was emptying trash on the east side. I was just pulling my truck back out of a turn out and on to the next spot when I just happened to double-take at something that just happened to catch my eye. It was a tiny kitten curled up in a ball, not moving. I got out of the truck expecting the worst, but the animal slightly, only slightly jarred at the sound of my door closing. She still didn't move at all, even as I approached her. The sun was shining brightly but it was only about 50 degrees out. I noticed that there was a dead-ended culvert that she was huddled near and figured she had come out of her "shelter" to try and warm herself in the sun. She hardly cared that I was coming towards her even as I knelt down next to her. Finally, she gained the energy to move herself away from me and into her shallow culvert. I verbally coaxed her back out and she came easily. I picked her up gently to find that she was all bones; you could feel vertebrae in her spine, and her hip bones just as well.
I had called the shelter before getting out the truck, to make sure they were accepting animals. I had found a huge tupperware tub back in the shop and lined it with paper towels to transport her in to the animal shelter. She didn't struggle or or make any noise as I picked her up and she sat quietly in the tub while I got in and started driving. I had a meeting in the next hour so I had to rush her the shelter. As I was driving, she warmed up and I guess found the energy to leave her bin and started climbing everywhere in the truck! I had some spare time so I asked Scott if he wanted to see this poor little kitten before I took her to the shelter. I liked the kitten a lot so far and she was so sweet and I felt bad for her, someone just dumping her out at the lake, her being all skin and bones.. Scott and I had been wanting a dog for a while but knew we didn't have time for one. Anyway, I got home quickly and showed the sweet little thing to Scott who had gone from sitting in my lap while I drove, to climbing onto the window to see him. Scott was quickly taken with her and softly said, "we can keep her if you want baby.." and I was like, really?! So I quickly dropped her at the vet, explained the situation, asked for her to have a check up and then rushed to my meeting.
I picked her up a couple hours later to find that she was severely underweight and malnourished; she weighed only one pound but was two months old. The vet said that she had been out there for at least a couple weeks and from her stool sample, that she had been eating leaves and bugs to survive. She gave us special food for her to eat, some worm medicine and asked to see her again in two weeks.
This was exactly one month ago and she just went in for her third check up today. She weighs a healthy 3.5 pounds now and you can no longer feel her bones when you pick her up. She is active and playful and sooo loving. So sad to think that she was taken away from her mom at only about a month old, but she seems to be doing just fine now. Although, she has crazy dog-like tendencies including coming in the tub while you're showering, laying at your feet while you're cooking dinner, chasing her tail, carrying her toys around in her mouth, playing in the toilet, licking your face.. etc, etc. We'll see how this progresses lol
One thing she does that's really kind of sad is that she tries to cover her food that's left over after she's finished eating. She'll just kind of scratch at the floor in an attempt to cover up the food she didn't eat yet. We think this was a habit she picked up when out at the lake, trying to protect what little food she had, for later. :( She still does this, even though her food will still be there waiting for her when she gets hungry again. Maybe she'll grow out of it..
Anyway, that's all I'll post for now; it you want to see more pics of her I have an album online: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151111368430810.430809.710215809&type=1&l=dda1f3a9d0
Oh, and Scott and I made a bench recently:
I'll try and write again soon! Hope you're having a wonderful fall!! :)
L&V,
Rach
