My wife and I have recently become executive staff for a new kitten. As of Saturday night.
We went to eat at Red Lobster ™ on the spur of the moment and when we came out, we saw a beautiful tortoiseshell kitten prowling the lot. She was clearlly hungry and scared. Having some leftovers, I peeled off a piece of lobster and my wife held it out for her so we could get her to approach and check her for any tags.
Driven by hunger she approached and quickly at the lobster. We were cautious, not sure if she was feral or just a cat recently dumped in the parking lot (though I suspect not-so-recently from her behavior). She was friendly and affectionate once she had a few bites of food.
After petting her a few moments and determining she had no collar, no tags, no tattoo, nor did anyone seem to be chasing after her, we decided to take her home. The Red Lobster is located in front of a large Wal-Mart anchored strip mall. The parking lot is enormous and extremely busy as the whole thing sits in the corner of the intersection of I77 and I40 in N. Carolina.
So we took her home and set her up in the sun room with some water and some dry chicken, gave her a few minutes to get setteld in and then went back and got about 150 dollars worth of supplies. I’m calling the vet tomorrow to get an appointment to get her the necessary shots, find out how old she is, get her a flea bath and arrange to have her spayed.
She seems to be litter-trained and use to people and is a lap cat. She’s currently snoozing away on a bit of extra carpet laid out in a square of sun coming through the glass doors of the sunroom, with a pretty new purple flea collar.
We haven’t named her yet. Kitten-face will do for now.
She’s adorable, but you need to lose the flea collar. They do more harm than good. The vet will probably give her some sort of liquid that’s rubbed into the back of her neck.
Also, she needs to be checked for a chip, though she was probably dumped when she was weaned and her old family got tired of trying to place her.
Thanks for the advice regarding the flea collar; I’ve never owned a cat and it has been a long time since my wife last owned one. I’ll be talking to the vet first thing tomorrow to schedule an appointment and I’ll be sure to ask about that. I also plan to have them check for a chip in case she wandered off.
She is a beauty! I have a tortie and she is such a princess. She always gets her way.
I agree about the flea collar, there are much better alternatives, and yours is too loose (cats can get their jaws over loose collars and bad things can happen then).
Thanks for the comments. Serendipity (her full name is actually Dread Pirate Serendipity) says thank you as well.
The Vet visit went quite well. She was a little resistant to getting in the cat carrier, but beyond that she was very well behave, esp. for a torti, or so the vet told us.
They checked for FIV, leukemia and ear mites, all of which came back negative. We got her shots for leukemia, de-wormed, and earmite/flea/tick/heartworm drop that goes on the back of the head.
The only minor thing was a silent hiss at the first shot she received, but she was otherwise wonderfully well-behaved. She’s resting now, recovering from the ordeal. Also, the flea collar has been disposed of.
We also scheduled the appointment to get her spayed. Oh, and we found out that she’s a year old. We’re looking forward to a long time with her.
She looks a little like my tortie, who even at 2+ years old, still is tiny as a kitten. Yours is beautiful - she’s very lucky to have met you when she did!
It’s also good that she’s well behaved at the vet - we have one (not the tortie) who was a total sweetheart at the vet as a kitten, and is now an angry, aggressive, violent bitch that requires her to be muzzled/blindfolded, pinned down by an assistant wearing elbow-length leather gloves, and often wrapped in a towel for good measure. I needed to wear my husband’s hockey gloves to get her into the cage, because she was going to bite my hand off! She’s also currently on her back on the coffee table in front of me, purring like mad and asking for a belly rub.
I hope your new kitty is only half as crazy as mine (or less!)
I have lived with, or worked with, many Torties, and all have been absolute gems. Each one, the vet has been amazed at how nice the tortie is! When I worked at the shelter, each tortie that came in always got the comment “She’s really nice, for a tortie!”
I have yet to meet that elusive crazy tortie.
You, however, got yourself a true gem - the kitty who needed you when it sounds like you were maybe needing a kitty. Here’s to many purrfect years!
Yay!