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Dulcinea and Gizmo
don't actually live with us - they're cousins to our kitties (they
live with my brother Tracy and his wife Kate and their kids).
I am so enamoured of them that I thought they deserved their very
own page so that everyone else could admire them as well.
Dulcinea's story
(as written by my brother):
Dulcinea came home
last night.
On my way back to the
squadron late in the afternoon, I took a straight instead of my
normal right. A few hundred yards up the road I glanced right
and saw a ball of fluff and ears, mouth wide open, little tiny
teeth.
I thought to myself:
what was that? My brain caught up and registered: kitten. Then
secondary synapses fired and I thought: "you are way too small
to be out by yourself sitting on the side of the road". This all
took me another couple hundred feet, so by now I was already onto
SR20. Had to find a place to turn around, get back to Miller road
and remember where I had seen the fluffball.
Now parked on the wrong
side of the road, facing traffic I started searching the area.
Wah-wah-wah-wah-wah... Not hard to find.
Called [Kate] on the
cell. Not sure what to do. Couldn't get my hands on the ball of
fluff, she would come out of the brambles just long enough to
be sure I didn't have any chow then dart back in. [Kate] brought
milk and cheese and Rotty treats. That worked.
Now what to do?
[Kate] took her to
the vet, I started toward work, then ended up at the vet as well.
Somewhere between tempting her with cheese and paying the vet
bill with the visa I never want to use again we decided she was
coming home with us.
Initially we weren't
sure if it was male or female. At under a pound the genitals of
kittens are kind of indestinct. Doc showed us, and then it was
obvious (sheese! How could we miss that?)
So Dulcinea, 'Nea
to [Kate] and I, "the cat" to Chris, and "Day-ah" to Mireya (who
calls herself 'Ray-ah) came home last night.
She is healthy, if
dehydrated. She probably wouldn't have lasted another day out
there.
Tiny. Doc says 4-5
weeks old. Most likely part of a litter dumped on the side of
the road by some bag of dipshits who want cats, but don't feel
the responsibility strongly enough to actually see to their care
and become incredulous when Muffy gets pregnant again -- then
lack the courage to have the litter either put up for adoption
or put down. Somehow starving to death or being victims to eagles,
ringed-tailed hawks or coyotes suits them as a solution to their
excess kitty problem. Dulcinea lucked out. I took a road I never
take to work, and saw her.
The most affectionate
cat I have ever seen. She is constantly grooming me. I wonder
if she is old enough to know she is a cat, and not a "people".
Working the litter box issue. And food. She has a small mailing
box in the bedroom, coiled towel as a bed. She knows that is her
place.
Welcome home, Dulcinea.
Gizmo's
story: In September of 2003, while volunteering at a local
petstore (I go one morning every week to scoop litter and feed
and play with the kitties), I took a picture of a kitten, whose
name at the time was Kendellee. My sister-in-law, Kate, took one
look at the picture and fell in love.
By happenstance,
my brother and Kate - who live a day's drive away from us - were
going to be in Alabama that very weekend, and a short detour on
their way home would bring them by our house. I ran back to the
petstore, sure that someone would have already adopted her. She
was there, playing in her cage, and after ten minutes of filling
out paperwork, she was mine to bring home and play with for a
day before Tracy and Kate took her home with them.
During
her day here, Gizmo had fun running and playing and freaking out
our cats. Also, the occasional catnap was in order.
For the
next few days after Tracy and Kate left with Gizmo, I missed her
a LOT. It's probably no coincidence at all that less than a month
after Gizmo spent a day and a night at our house, we'd adopted
a new kitten.
I still
miss her a little, but Kate is very good about sharing pictures.
And it appears that Gizmo and her big sister Dulci have become
the best of friends.
Main
cat page.
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