I have clients who found a kitten at the husband’s family farm over the summer, and brought him home. They already have two, ten year old cats. B’Orange is a huge female who can handle Pepper, the errant kitten, just fine. But Bud is constantly tormented by Pepper. Poor Bud suffers from a multitude of health problems, including a mouth full of no teeth, and he just lays on his side making pathetic noises while Pepper tips him over and chews on him. So I offered to take Pepper home with me for the day to give the two seniors a break. I have two parrots and a Border Collie and a house full of fish, but thought to myself, “Hey, if I am going to do Kitten Kindergarten, then I oughta get a cat!”
So I loaded Pepper up in the car and made the treck to St. Charles Animal Control, where I am friends with the shelter director. Together, we combed the kennels, hauling out cat after cat, until I chose my new little “Cat-ten”, who I named Murmer, because she walks around the house all day long making that little sound to herself and anyone else who is listening. I have not had kittens since 1987, and she fills my house all day long with hysterical laughter at her antics. I’ll write more about her later. Fortunately, Pepper does not get car sick on his way back and forth to my house, but I get calls from clients who do have this problem. Just a few days ago, I had to take my 33 year old Eclectus, Clare, to the vet, and there was a person next to me who had a cat who was sick and also suffered car sickness on the way into the vet. When my Scottish Deerhound, Gulliver, was a puppy, he rode in the back seat with a bag of grass seed and snacked, unbeknownst to me, all the way to the park, where he threw up. I did not do a great job cleaning it up, and did not drive my car for a few days afterward. When I got back out to take it out, there was a veritable garden of green lawn growing on my back seat!