Where the Wild Things Are, 4th Edition, Volume VII

Our sweet kitty never came back. It’s super sad and we’re dealing with it, mostly by having adopted four precious new kittens from a friend who had a litter abandoned by a garage cat mama.

So we adopted four kittens, one for each child (Max I’m sure will have a full range of pet experiences, just not until he can you know, speak and pee on the toilet and such things).

The first day was busy, cleaning up poopy kitten behinds, showing them around the bathroom to see where their food was, litter pan, etc.

The next day it was like having four newborns all at once, there was crying, clinging, poopy messes, and the cats were a handful, too. ;)

They had been doing pretty good so we left for Astoria for the day to visit Reggie’s mom on her docked boat. My mom came over to check on the little guys (two girls - big normal size kittens, and two boys - tiny little runts). They were all fine.

When we got home though, I checked on everyone and Zach’s kitten, the smallest of the bunch, was laying lifeless under one of the sister kittens. I picked him up and he was still breathing - he would take a deep breath every few seconds, and his eyes were wide open, but his body was completely limp. I thought for sure he was on his way out of this world, but we managed to keep him alive through the night. We fed him through a syringe for the next day, but he never woke up from his coma type state. He would sleep normal, curl up in our laps (we didn’t put him back down after that), but couldn’t maintain his body temperature, couldn’t eat, couldn’t walk, and finally passed away about 30 hours or so after we found him in that state. I had called the vet office and they said with kittens that small, it’s likely he wasn’t going to make it but to keep trying to keep him warm and syringe feed him...but not to get our hopes up. Especially being away from mom. She said there was a strong possibility that he might have luekemia or aids, as this is pretty common with feral kittens and they just don’t thrive.

We buried him later that day in Reggie’s iPhone box that the kids decorated with stickers and drawings and letters. We dug a hole out by a pretty tree in the yard which in the springtime is surrounded with yellow and white daffodils. We lit a candle and said goodbye to Zach’s dear Suchi. Needless to say, it hit him hard...especially because he is the most sensitive and his little 10 year old heart breaks every time he sees a little dear in trouble. He gets mad at us for killing spiders and prefers to be the one to deal with ants and bees and spiders in the house. He knows what most bugs are and has studied them in his free time. He had a couple of days to pamper Suchi and say goodbye, so at Suchi’s burial, there were a few leftover tears, but mostly happiness that Suchi isn’t suffering anymore........

I was worried about the other small kitten, so we took them off goats milk, which the vet said was great for kittens, and I got them kitten replacement milk, the weaning formula, and they’ve all been doing really wonderful. Rambunctious, feisty, alert, pooping normal, hungry, affectionate, and very playful.

The girls, Mittens and Zyri, gang up on poor Fireball, but he holds his own.

Last night I was coming upstairs after the house was quieted down and it was dark outside, and as I climbed the stairs, I heard a thump and something running across the floor. When I got to the floor, I saw a giant faded orange cat - probably Marmalade’s sibling or father - running to closed window. He’s never been inside before, but we’ve seen him hunting in the fields outside. I walked carefully over to open the window, but as I got close, he turned and hissed at me, scared out of his mind. He ran onto my desk, nearly knocking over Reggie’s monitor, to another closed window, trying frantically to get out.

I opened the previous window and showed him it was open and backed way up to where the kittens sleep, hoping to protect them if they needed it. I saw one kitten poking it’s head out from their sleeping spot, curious and freaked out. I was reassured that they looked unharmed.

Finally the giant cat found it’s way out and bolted across the roof to the safety of the woods. I took a deep breath and snuggled the kittens for a long time, such precious and tiny little sweet things. They purred and rubbed against me as if to say Thanks.

Then I noticed that there was a half eaten chicken drumstick on the counter, the rest of them lay on the stove where they had been left out after dinner. So this huge feral crazy scary cat was so hungry that it came INSIDE my home to eat the bbq chicken on my kitchen counter. Wow.

At least it wasn’t a raccoon or a coyote or something more sinister...like an owl or neighborhood kid...(shudders). Because we all know how little kids like bbq chicken drumsticks.....

The crazy wild thing stories continue....stay tuned!