Call me Crazy, We Adopted a Feral Kitten

Ok, maybe don't call me crazy, but we did get a kitten.  Let me give you some back story.  My husband grew up on a farm in Nebraska.  When his dad passed away last year, his mom started thinking about selling the farm.  Also add to that, my girls have been begging for a cat for a couple of years.  All of that led to the perfect storm of us coming home on the airplane with a tiny black fluffball. This post contains commission referral links, and reading beyond this point means you agree to my updated privacy policy, found here.

Welcome to the family Velvet Aurora

When we were on the farm this summer, two of the feral stray cats at the barn had litters of black kittens.  Now, usually the cats (and kittens) are too scared of humans to come near anyone.  These were so friendly. As soon as the kittens would hear my kids come out of the house, they came running.  Some were very friendly, and others were skittish.

They seemed pretty healthy, other than some gross eye gook, but that is pretty common in kittens.  We chatted about it a LOT, keeping it a secret from the kids.  I called my friend Colleen, who is a zookeeper, and has worked in animal health forever.  I asked for the skinny on health probability.  Basically she told me that as long as the kitten didn't have leukemia or AIDS, it would be fine.  OOOOOKKKKKK.  That was a bit to take in.

All of the kittens.  We were in heaven.

Next we had to figure out which kitten to choose (without letting the kids know).  We told them we were going to take one to the vet for its eyes, and wanted to take the friendliest one.  I was pretty sure it would be hard to pick a kitten, but that day, one really stood out.  She followed the kids everywhere, let them hold her constantly, and purred every time we touched her.  She even wandered very far from her mama, and litter-mates!  We found some craft paint, and put a little dab on her tail, so that we could tell her apart.

Now this all happened over the weekend, and we were leaving on Wednesday.  On Monday morning, I called the local vet when it opened, and got an appointment for that day.  I also ordered a soft carrier from Amazon (knowing we could return it), because there wasn't one in town.  We took her to her appointment...and she was healthy.  You can bet I was sweating the results of the lab test (which he did right in from of me, think pregnancy test).  The other news?  She had lice.  Oh hell yes, lice.  The vet felt like they were species specific, but wanted to make sure.  Can you even with kids, and a dog and lice in my house. I cannot.  They kept her overnight.

We narrowed it down to two friendly kittens, and this was before the lice freak out.

We went to pick her up in the morning, and the vet had treated her species specific (thank goodness) lice.  She had had a bath, and given both oral antibiotics, and drops for her eyes.  The kids still didn't know anything.  We had to keep her separated from the rest of the cats, so poor grandma had to lose a bathroom to the kitten.  We were leaving the next day, so I had to be sneaky about packing for her.  I had to pack the food that she was eating, figure out a litter situation, and a bag to keep it in.

The litter situation: we had a three hour drive to Omaha, and then two flights to Maryland.  With a kitten that had never used a litterbox.  She was a champ overnight, so I hoped for the best.

Cue telling the kids, which I have saved on my Instagram highlights (kitten adoption).  It was amazing, and so special.  They were sooooo excited, and we put the kitten in her little bag, packed the car, and all piled in to drive to the airport.  AAAAnnnnd we had a flat tire.  Four miles from a traffic light, in the middle of Nebraska, on our rental car.  I supervised the changing of that tire like a champ!  We got on the road, and headed to the airport.

The kitten ran around the car, and used my makeshift litterboxes!  What a girl!  She handled the trip like a boss, sleeping on her back (purring) for most of the time.  When we got home, the dog was even happy about our new addition!  (A little bit too happy, but I will go into that another time.)

Right now we are in kitten heaven, and just getting used to the new routine (and let's face it, a ton of new work for me).  So far it's been great!

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