New Kitten!

I have just recently acquired a darling little kitten. (----[tttt48888888888888888qqqqqqqqqqqqq -- she noticed my fingers on the keyboard and had to attack them thus typing the last sentence.) A woman had came into the store I work at and asked me if I knew anyone that wanted a kitten. The little Englishman had promised me a kitten so I jumped at the serendipitous encounter. Apparently our kitten just wandered into their yard on a rainy afternoon and the woman was going to bring her into the house but her own cats didn't appreciate their new found company. The kitten had to stay in the cold garage until the woman took her to the humane society but luckily, we picked her up.

Dexter on her first night at the apartment

Her first duty upon entering her new home was to have the most foul diarrhea in the corner. It couldn't be held against her though, she was scared and we only had newspaper for her to use at the timeWe set up a big box from our futon for her to stay in until we got the place cleaned up and newspaper put down in all the corners. Needless to say, she didn't stay in there long. The first night she was the most cuddly kitten I'd ever encountered. We could barely move because she was either sleeping on my chest or on the little Englishman's shoulder. We only had wet food to give her but she ate an entire can in just that night. I called my friend ( her blog here: Frootroops) for some advice on our little rescue. She told me, among many other helpful tips, to look at the kitten's tummy for fleas. No sooner than I had turned the kitten over did one crawl across her fur. I freaked out so much that I had to get off the phone and try and pick what I thought was just some random insect out of her fur. I quickly realized, however, that my kitten had a pretty serious infestation. I slept in the living room that night so she could keep warm against me while I slept. She woke me up by treading on my with poop sodden paws and batting at my eyelids.

The next morning I scoured the internet for tips on bathing a kitten and took my friends advice on using Dawn dishsoap to clean her. The kitten actually seemed pretty okay with this first bath, barely trying to escape and not howling like cats usually do when they encounter water. We didn't see any fleas on her so I figured I was right about it being just a random bug. We also decided to name her Dexter because at the time we didn't know her gender and said we'll stick with it regardless. Dexter was a bit more playful throughout the day, especially after getting the proper kitten chow mixed with kitten milk. It seemed though that she couldn't quite figure out where her new litterbox and food/water dishes were. Whenever she was cuddling with us, she wouldn't wander over to either for long spaces of time. I was getting a little worried that she was blind or didn't realize that she could eat and go to the bathroom without us putting her in front of either. Thankfully, she's sorted it out since we've had to leave her here when we go to work or school though every once in a while she still forgets where her litter box now is and tries to go where it was previously.

The second bath I gave her was slightly more eventful. We'd purchased a flea comb and flea spray. I started in with the dawn and found that the fleas had wised up since the last bath and quickly rushed to Dexter's face. It is incredibly freaky, if you've never seen it, to watch fleas walk across your pets eyes while you frantically try to comb and pick each one you see out. The little Englishman kept holding her by the scruff in order the get the fleas off her tummy and rinse out the tiny amount of flea spray we used (she isn't old enough for most flea treatments) and I thought the prolonged dangling might have damaged her because she was barely moving while in the towel, not even shaking. She came around eventually but then I made the mistake of looking online about common problems with found kittens and saw something about earmites. Her ears are filled with this dark brown goo and it looks just like all the reference pictures on the internet. I knew at this point that we needed to get her to a vet as soon as possible.

Most cats, especially kittens, hate driving. Hate. We had a cat that would hide under the seats when we took him to the vet and we had to pry him out from his safety spot with all our might. Little Dexter, however, seemed to really enjoy it. She sat perched on the little Englishman's shoulder or inside his pocket just watching curiously as everything passed by. Everyone at the vet thought she was the cutest kitten. (--While I'm typing this she is making it known that she needs serious cuddles but meowing at my nose and nuzzling my eyebrow--). When we told them we didn't know her gender, everyone tried to figure it out. The nurse was all up in her junk and rubbing it with her finger and still couldn't tell. When the vet walked in, she took on quick look and dubbed Dexter a female. Dexter was also found to have no earmites and to be 5-6 weeks old. She was dewormed and we got pills for her fleas because she was too young to get a standard flea treatment. They told us to make her a soft food meatball and stick the pill in it. The little Englishman did this when I dropped him off at home and I guess she ate it right up. Dexter may be pretty fearless but while at the vet we encountered a large yellow lab mix of a dog and Dexter immediately started growling. The dog seemed really curious about her and had an expression that read "Hello little fuzzy thing, I am dog. I want friend. Be my friend? I like little fuzzy thing. Please be friend." Dexter was having none of that.

 Dexter is strange for a female cat. All the female cats I've had before ranged from cautiously apathetic to downright unfriendly. They would only allow you to pet them on their terms which were usually them being in an awkward positing behind some barrier so they could get loving but you couldn't get them. Dexter, however, is as playful as a kitten should be but whenever she's a bit tired or hasn't seen you for a while, she will come and lay either next to you or on your shoulder. Today is the most loving she's been since her first night. Rather than purely cuddling up to me for warmth, she got right in my face and started meowing at me and licking my nose and would only stop when I pet her. She wouldn't let me type for more than a minute but now she's asleep with her head on my shoulder and her body inside the collar of my sweater. She sounds like she's snoring and she sleeps like she's flying like Superman.

 

Dexter after her baths