Our new baby

Our new baby
Originally uploaded by BackwoodSophisticate

Here is our new resident. My daughter has been asking for a kitten forever so we decided to get her one for Christmas. I went to the local animal shelter the Saturday before Christmas. There were about 12 kitties in the cat room. There were some real beauties in there. One was a gorgeous white and grey long hair who looked like he was about to bust with personality. His cage was a mess, food everywhere, paper all tore up and when I took him out to see, he clawed his way right up to my shoulder and behind my head. I figured he might have a little too much personality for our house and knew he would have no problem getting adopted so back in the cage he went. Well, when I had walked in there, there were a few plain jane kittens, two black ones and I think two grey ones. I decided to hold this pitiful looking black one. Well, he laid out in my crossed arms and slinked his way from one elbow to the other, finally rolling over on his back to get me to pet his belly. He was a ugly little thing, fur all dry, filled with white flakes, nose all icky, dirty.... pitiful. So I put him back. My plan was to ride to Richmond to check out the kittens at the PetSmart so I left the shelter but it was not long before I was back asking if I could get the little black kitty tested for Feline Leukemia to make sure he was healthy. They took him across the street and tested him. I waited for the results and it was negative, yay! So that was the decision maker, he was going to be ours. I filled out the paper work and asked if they could hold him until Wednesday. It was a LONG three days and I was excited to go pick him up. I met my mom at the shelter and she took him to the vet to get his shots and deworming. I met her after his appointment and took him home and put him in my daughter's room in with a bow on his carrier, a bow on a litter box and a bow on his food dishes. Them mom went and got the kids. When Megan walked in, I fussed at her to pick up her bookbag and take it to her room. She walked up stairs and there was a long pause.... then a giant gasp and she came running down the stairs asking if it was for real. She took him out of his carrier, with tears in her eyes and told me how he was the best present ever! Since being home with us, he has gotten all those icky parasites out of his system, his fur has gotten shinier and he is beginning to put on weight. I don't think he had much more time left if he had stayed in the shelter. He literally was being starved by the parasites. He did catch a cold when he got here, but with antibiotics, that cleared up quickly. He still is bony but he has so much more energy and is now acting like a lively, active little kitten. Greta has finally accepted him and they are playing like best buds.