One Tiny Cat

I don’t understand the way people think sometimes. Here’s what I mean…

Wed. I found a tiny kitten (about 7-8 weeks old) in the middle of the road right in front of Nixa High School. He had a bloody nose, blood in his left eye and was obviously in shock. I took him to the feline veterinarian and they discovered the kitten’s left front leg is paralyzed and may have to be amputated if it doesn’t get better within a month or so. The vet told me that he thought someone had grabbed the kitten’s left front leg and slung him from a car onto the street.

Yesterday, out of the blue on the way home from dropping Kylie off at school, Connor said “Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish, I wish with all my heart that the little kitty would be ok and we could give him some cat food.” I swear I almost started crying.

We weren’t planning on getting another cat anytime soon. And when I dropped him off at the vet’s I wasn’t really thinking we’d be owning this little kitty. But then I started thinking about it. Maybe this was meant to be. Why hadn’t he been picked up by anyone else? Why hadn’t he been hit by a car? Why was he still alive? Why was it me that found him?

This afternoon, after a fun fishing trip to Lake Springfield with the kids and my dad, we picked the kitten up from the vet. This was a surprise to both Kylie and Connor. Connor knew about the kitten since he’d been in the car when I found him, but I never told Kylie about it. We have yet to come up with a name (Tommy, Max, Roadie, Crash and Baby were a few thrown into the hat), but he’s settling in nicely. He’s hissed and spit at the dog and at Geordie (who hissed back and got all puffed up) all from the safety of his crate. Kess has yet to investigate the tiny intruder.

We took the kitty outside this evening for his first photo shoot. The fact that his leg is paralyzed doesn’t slow him down one bit. He was all over the place and it was all I could do to get a photo that was in focus! He’s been eating like crazy and resting with his head on his new mouse toy. He likes to have his back rubbed right in front of his tail and rubs his head on everything. Kylie and Connor have been so good with the kitty. They’re very gentle and are so careful with him.

The hardest thing about this has been trying to explain to Kylie why someone would hurt an innocent baby animal on purpose. I can’t explain it to her. Michael hasn’t been able to explain it to her either. This is what I mean by I don’t understand how some people think. How could someone do that? What made them think they should do it? What had the kitten done that caused them to do it (not that it’s justifiable by any means)? If they didn’t want a kitten why did they have one or why didn’t they have their cat spayed? Why couldn’t they have just taken him to the Humane Society? Hmmm…we’ll never know. I do know that if I had seen someone throw an animal from a car, I’d have chased them down and thrown them out of a car…on the freeway going 80 mph.

Anyway…

Enjoy the photos. Maybe tomorrow we’ll have a name for this little guy!

When I found him, he was lying in the middle of the left hand turn lane right by the arrow...

Sweet little baby kitty...Notice the LF leg is turned under...Dragging his leg doesn't slow him down at all...C and the kitty...K (right after her bath) and the kitty...