it happened again.
“it” is the cat distribution system.
two fridays ago i was drinking my coffee on the porch. my husband had just left for work when he texted me.
he then sent a video and a note that the kitten looked like sally, the cat his family had when i met him. i did not actually see those until i was downstairs with the carrier and a can of theo’s wet food. the kitten was under our neighbor’s pickup truck, a tiny tuxedo who was a little bedraggled and a lot scared—but he came right to me. i was holding him when a neighbor walking his dogs outside saw us through the opening (the garage is “underground” but actually at street level, and is open air with bars close enough together that no one can come inside unless they are, say, cat sized) and called to us.
he said “that’s my cat!” and pulled out his phone to show me a picture of the kitten asleep on one of the dogs (extremely cute omg). then his wife appeared and the four of us chatted. they explained that the kitten had fallen off their balcony and been missing for a few days, and then she said, “do you want him?” and explained that her father often has animals dropped off at his shop and they help him find homes for them. they have four dogs and four cats, and were offering us this one on the spot.
what could we do? we said yes and i put him in the carrier and brought him upstairs, where i gave him food and water and tried to clean him up a little. he was greasy and ate so greedily that i ended up taking the food away so he wouldn’t hurt himself (obviously i gave it back later). then he fought sleep as hard as he could, so i held him and petted him until he gave in.
they had been calling him esteban, but we didn’t think that was quite right for us. when the boys woke up, gabe suggested ernesto and it has stuck. we call him ernie—though my husband mostly calls him butch or butchie.
we all fell in love, hard. we all worried a lot about what theo would think. i made a vet appointment and we all worried a lot that he might be FIV or FeLV positive. we kept him in the bathroom until his appointment, which went well and his blood test came back negative. then it was time to introduce him to theo, which was a slow process—and it’s a good thing, because his fecal analysis came back positive for giardia. so he’s on meds for that and will be retested in a week.
we started letting him sleep in the living room in the nylon popup kennel we bought for theo when she was recovering from her post-spay infection. theo was very interested and started to interact with him through the mesh, and my heart swelled because it was basically watching her find out she isn’t the last cat on earth (although i do have to say, she thinks she’s people). by friday night they were playing, with her running past and tagging him.
saturday morning i came downstairs and they had played so hard the kennel was partly collapsed (not dangerous, since it is soft) and inside was wrecked with ernie’s spilled litter and water.
so it was back to the bathroom for ernie, but when theo woke up she became frantic because she couldn’t find him. i had to bring him out to show her he’s okay. now we give them supervised playtime in the living room. sunday morning theo stared at me and made sad noises until i brought him out.
the only time i have ever introduced cats was when theo abruptly joined our family. she was so little (no more than 5 weeks old) that introductions happened fast, and sweet baby ray was miserable. we will never know how much of that was the kitten and how much was how sick he secretly was, but i was very nervous for theo to meet ernie. she was only three months old—ernie’s age now—when ray died.
it’s gone better than i could have hoped for. she’s as in love with him as i am.
we are spending the extra week or so until he is (hopefully!) parasite free getting the apartment into moderately better shape for a kitten to live in. this is very challenging! we only have two doors that close, not including the front door: the bathroom and the boys’ room. my husband and i sleep in an open loft. the four of us have more stuff than fits in this space, and it’s simply impossible to keep clean or tidy. i’m doing my best so ernie will be safe and hopefully so will my things (theo has destroyed a few already). i’ve already spent $130 at chewy and at least that much at petsmart. i don’t even want to say how much at the vet. but we have the money, just barely, and it’s just going to have to be fine.
i’m so tired i can barely think straight (bi). but i’m so happy. this is three cats in three years that have presented themselves to my husband, the pussy magnet.
(sorry not sorry.)