Tiny Oscar

Look at me! I am brown and fuzzy and the size of a small food bowl!

Much to my mother's dismay, I rescued a dumpster kitten on Friday night (with the help of the visiting Matt Stersic) and am currently keeping him quarantined in my downstairs bathroom (one of the few disadvantages to having a loft is that there are no real rooms aside from the bathrooms and the laundry room).


Seriously, I am so glad I drove all the way from Savannah to spend my Saturday doing this!

Below are some of the fun activities that have taken place since plucking said kitten up from in front of our complex trash compactor:

1) Kitty's first bath. We used baby shampoo and warm water and were quite disturbed to see what looked like blood running off of the kitten. We were not able to find any cuts, but he had tons of fleas, so Matt guessed that it might be from the flea bites. As it turns out, it DID have to do with the fleas, but it was actually flea excrement, which is mostly blood. EW. Trash kitty also smelled pretty foul, so this was instrumental in increasing his kitten-y cuteness factor, which is essential for kitten survival among humans. Just kidding. But it was easier to hold him when he didn't have little green cartoon vapors rising off his body.

2) Kitty's first flea treatment. We used some stuff we found at Kroger (this was after pet stores had closed) that you could spray on a towel and then wrap around the kitten. It did seem to work a bit, except that many of the fleas seemed to congregate on his head instead, which we had to leave exposed.

3) Kitty's first car ride. This was to go to the Humane Society, but they ended up not having any room for a kitten. Between the shelter and the vet we ended up going to (Pets are People, Too), he both peed and pooped in his make-shift carrier (a liquor box- nice, I know!), so he was ripe and ready when we walked into the vet's office.

4) Kitty's first vet visit. This was actually quite good and not incredibly cheap. We got rid of the fleas and the earmites and started him on medication for worms, some other parasite, and his kitty kold (sorry, I could resist. He has an upper respiratory infection). Our vet was Amy Smith from the future, and she was very excited about everything.

5) Worms. Gross. Gross gross gross.

6) Giving kitty his pill. I have not really been too successful in getting one of these quartered pills into the kitten's mouth yet. He spits them back out, and they end up kind of crumbled and smeared on my fingers and on his tiny lips. Then, when I try to wash down the crumbs with water, it just foams up on his lips and gives him a tiny little foam beard. Fortunately, this is just the antihistimine. The antibiotics are in liquid form, although he did spit some of that out today while shaking his head and managed to get it in my eye. Good times!

7) Managing a jealous, healthy cat. My first lady, Mona, has been meowing and eyeing me suspiciously as I enter and exit the quarantined area. I have a baby gate up barring off the back of the downstairs, and she hasn't tried to jump it yet. However, as the trash kitty is getting better, he is getting nosier and more playful, which means he may soon directly attract her attention. This is not something I am looking forward to.

8) Finding a new home for kitty. Amy Salley- you are my girl. As of today, the kitten (henceforth to be known as "Oscar") most likely has a new mommy. Yay!


How can you say no to the Don King fur?