Someone just walked into the restaurant i work at, dumped this soaking wet kitten in the lobby, and left without saying a word. I just got a kitten this month, so i took her home with me since i have kitten supplies and everyone else at work has too many pets.
She cried the whole ride home, and my kitten (13 weeks old), Niniane was not happy about the new cat. I took the stray into the bathroom and fed her. Afterwards i weighed her and she wasn’t even 2lbs. She was absolutely filthy, so i gave her a quick bath without much struggle.
I dried her off and groomed her with the slicker brush and then let Niniane into the bathroom so they could socialize a bit. Nini was curious, but very standoffish and mostly just hissed while the stray just wanted to climb into my lap. I put a cat hammock, scratching post, and some toys in the bathroom (none of which Nini uses) and have locked the stray in there until i know she is litter trained. Currently she is jist sleeping in the hammock, so i think I’ll leave her there for the night and try to socialize the kittens some more tomorrow.
Edit: i think i am gonna call her Boudica. It’s much better than “the stray”. She just peed in the litter box and even buried it, so that’s a massive step. Unfortunately I’m still gonna keep her in in the bathroom for the next few days, but I’m so glad she used the litter box.
Yeah, that’s one of the drawbacks of living in a semi-rural city in Ohio. Niniane’s mom was a barn cat though, so i i figure she was exposed to worse when i got her. Her mom’s owner only put the bare minimum into preventative care for the cats since coyotes are such a big problem around here. Meanwhile the stray was a “city” cat, so I don’t think she was exposed to anything Nini wasn’t already exposed to. I’ll keep an eye oit for worms in the litter box, but the stray was probably only slightly more at risk for something nasty than Nini was when i got her. Either way, I’ll know in a couple weeks.
Ear mites are also a thing, and they’re highly contagious. Kittens are especially susceptible to them so I would definitely read up on them if I were you.
I’ve got some ear wipes. Her ears were pretty dirty when i cleaned them out. I’ll grab mite drops from the store and give both kittens a treatment.
I don’t know a thing about cats, but I would’ve expected there to be more diseases in the city, with all the humans, car exhaust, trash etc…
The “city” is a 17,000 person college town surrounded by corn fields. It’s a very picturesque town. Probably the best place for a stray cat to be since there’s no stray dogs or coyotes. Basically 200 year old suburb with a walkable downtown.
just gonna say… barn cats are the best cats.
grandma had a barn cat that lived in her pipe organ’s pipes. Pinky would pop out and watch people, and usually come down to say ‘hi’, at least to me, but she was quite old and frequently grumpy with “others”,
(… yes. you read that right. My grandma teaches organ and piano, and until a while ago, she had a ‘rescued’ pipe organ in her garage. It’s since been donated and restored to a proper home.)(Don’t judge Grandpa kept a still in the back of his barn. I remember after he passed we were helping clear out his barn, ‘what’s this?!’ ‘Oh. that’s grandpa’s still.’… was a rather awkward conversation.)