This sweet little kitten has been wandering around the neighborhood since last night, at least. Not sure before that. She followed some kids home way down the street last night while I was cooling off on the porch, but their mother was saying 'no pets' and I wondered what would happen to the little thing. The kids were in front of my house, across the street, when I saw this little thing loping down the sidewalk after them -- they had stopped to see something in one of the yards, and I guess this is what they saw.
This morning I walked to the library and she was sitting in a different yard, on this side of the street, came running out to me. I wouldn't let her follow me, but determined that if she was still there when I came back, I might give her a cuddle.
Long story short, she was still there and she was extremely cuddly and lovable and skinny and no doubt hungry and clearly had fleas. But I took her home, gave her a little raw cows milk and some cat chow that I'd purchased awhile back in anticipation of getting a cat soon. She was starving -- don't think I've ever seen anything that small eat so much at one time. She can't be more than six weeks old and has clearly been raised in a loving environment and not mistreated, so I have to wonder how she came to be alone and homeless on this street.
She hasn't had the best of days. After she ate, I dusted her with diatomaceous earth (DE) to get rid of the fleas, then fed her a concoction of garlic oil, cod liver oil, and DE, to discourage fleas from the inside as well as purge worms, as the DE will do. And yes, it was food grade DE, totally safe for humans and pets to swallow.
After that, she wouldn't leave me alone so she perched on my lap while I read. A friend stopped by, and while we were walking around talking I carried her until she started meowing in a panic that I recognized as a kitten's signal that she had to poop. I'd prepared a sand box (literally, sand in an old disposable foil cake tin) and put her in this. She didn't recognize this as cat litter, but eventually instinct took over and she started digging.
I guess this had made for a pretty tiring day, because after she finished with the litter box on the porch, I brought her back inside (much cooler!) and set her on my ottoman atop a sweatshirt that I use to protect the white fabric. I don't think she budged -- just sat down, lay down, and went to sleep. Later, she stretched out a bit but slept for a good hour in a half until.....
I stuck her into a bath filled with mild soap and a little orange oil, again to get rid of fleas. I'd been watching them crawl all over her while she slept -- amazing numbers of them. DE won't work that fast. Needless to say, she was not amused at the bath and I'm guessing that the orange oil began to sting a little here and there, probably where there were flea bites, although I didn't use but a few drops. She's tiny enough that I could hold her in the water long enough to drown the fleas. That sounds awful -- I wasn't holding her under water, but her rear feet were in the water and I was using my other hand to scoop water over the little body and scrub at the fleas. She would have completely panicked if I'd held her underwater. Eventually she was yeowing enough and frantic enough that I took her out, gave her a quick rinse under the faucet, and wrapped her in a towel.
After I got her mostly dry, I put her down and she took care of the rest. I'm thinking she'll never trust me quite as much again, but she's young and maybe she'll forget the 'torture'. That does not mean that I'm going to keep her. I am rescuing her, have contacted a rescue organization in Rome that I've been working with. I don't think I can afford the cost of leukemia testing and inoculations, and I don't want to keep her unless I know she is leukemia free. I'm waiting to hear from them.
In the meantime, it was off to Kroger for some food for me and a litter box/litter for her. I'll need it when the time comes to get a cat, whether it's this one or not. She'll be sleeping on the front porch, where she is now. That's her home, with inside privileges, for the time being.
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