It's a Team's Life

A Cat in the Mouse House

If any one tells you cats are not sneaky let me tell you they are lying... We first met our future pet in June when one of our outdoor cats had kittens. There is nothing striking about an all black kitten except that he was small. We left home in June and thought nothing of all of those kittens at home as they often appear around our house.

We went back home in August right after our youngest daughters Belgian Malinois came to stay with us while she is on assignment. First thing we learned was that Wwitch loved the kittens, as they were awesome squeeze toys. She never hurt them she just terrified them all but Squeaky who would stand up to her as well as he could.

Once again we left home without a thought of kittens. We went back home in October and out of eight kittens only two were surviving. The tiny little black kitten was very scrawny but still had his attitude. He was not afraid of Wwitch and when she would come out of the house his little back would arch, his nails came out, and he would HISS and then she would lick him and he would fall over. All of the rest of the cats except his grandma would run for the hills but not him.

While we were home we watched him struggle to get onto the porch and to survive knowing he would not make it through winter. For some reason he also was not afraid of people this was odd, as we have learned over the years outdoor cats are not pets and we did not play with any of the kittens. None of the other cats except his Grandma will let you pet them. Ok his Grandma Betty also has attitude and was given to us as a barn cat. She was spayed earlier this year and she thinks she owns the place.

While I was sitting on the front porch, right before we were ready to leave Bob came walking down the drive and watched the black kitten struggling to get on the porch and out of his mouth came "Why don't we take that kitten with us?" Wow, glad I was sitting down. After some thinking of how a tiny kitten would disrupt our lives we were off to town to get kitten supplies.

Worse then a baby was what I kept thinking, he needed a litter box, litter, kitty food, brush, water and food dishes, collar, leash, toys and scratch pad. My gosh so much stuff for a cat that cannot register a pound on a scale. Well he has several names from Spike to Squeaky to Sneaky and he fits all of them.

Spike first got a bath and what a pitiful site. We could really see how scrawny he was under his black coat. He let us give him a bath without drawing any of our blood even though he did not like it. He immediately used the litter box so that worry was laid to rest. Next was putting him in the truck. Would he get truck sick or do fine? From the moment he got into the Cascadia he was at home. While riding down the road he would eat, play and sleep from the first moment.

The Hidden Mickey Cascadia truck now has a kitten and the kitten is here to stay. In this week we have learned we are living with a small animal that loves attention and to have his belly rubbed. He likes his toys and he still cannot believe his good fortune at having food in his dish and fresh water whenever he wants.

We still have a lot to learn about kittens but we are reading all we can and we ask people who have cat's lots of questions. In a short week Squeaky has wrapped us and our hearts around his little paw.

A short note about Wwitch. Her name is pronounced "Witch." The double W is signifying she was from the W litter while she was in the military working dog program at Lackland AFB Texas. All of the puppies in her litter have names that start with W. So Walter would be written Wwalter, and so on. Brandy got her as a puppy in the military working dog foster program. Wwitch did not have the drive it takes to move on to become a working dog and the foster parents can then keep them. She was first spayed and then has her official release papers from the military. She is a family dog and loves people. She somehow missed the memo that she is supposed to be a watchdog and not the official greeter.

Bob & Linda Caffee
TeamCaffee
Saint Louis MO
Expediters since January 2005
[email protected]

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