Chapter 11: Yeller
Weathering the rest of
December, as always, was a bit tricky for the Katz'. Everyone else in town was
focused on Christmas, which was a holiday that the Katz’s did not celebrate. It
usually didn’t cross anyone’s mind in this part of North Carolina that there
was anyone in the world that didn’t also celebrate Christmas, and so people
would often ask about what they wanted or did for Christmas, or what their
favorite Christmas carol was, and they would have to answer that they didn’t do
that. This, of course, just served to remind people that this family was a bit
strange.
Oddly, they found out around
this time that David and Rose were also Jewish. Karen thought to herself that
she should have known. With those names, and having come originally from New
Jersey, it should have been obvious. She felt bad about not having invited the
Greenbergs over for Hanukkah. It did seem, however, that they were the only
people of that heritage in the entire county. The Katz’s weren’t perverse about
it. They could have been. If everyone around you constantly assumed that you
were taking part in say, Diwali, and ignored the fact that you weren’t Hindu,
but Christian, and acted like there was no such thing as Christmas, you might
get grumpy about it after a while. The Katz’s were used to this though, so they
took part in the annual cookie exchange and did their part to be sociable
without getting too involved.
December was relatively
cold, but not extremely so. The animals that stayed outside were just fine and
really didn’t need any extra measures. The Katz’s made sure that the shed and chicken
coop were snug and secure, and that was all that was needed. One early December
day, however, Jack went into the chicken coop to find more than chickens and a
few eggs. In one of the bottom-most hay-filled bins was a little yellow lump.
On further inspection, it seemed to be a kitten. It was scrawny and its fur was
all matted and muddy and the poor thing was tucked into a ball and shivering.
The hens were crowded into the opposite side of the coop, not really sure what
to make of this intruder. Jack couldn’t figure out how the kitten had gotten in
there. It had been pretty cold last night and he had made sure the coop was
locked up tight.
It’s a rare person who could
look at that pitiful sight and not do something about it. Jack tentatively
touched its forehead and looked closely to make sure it was breathing. A small
mewing sound came from the matted thing. He picked it up and, cradling it, took
it back to the house. It weighed almost nothing, and fit into the palm of his
hand easily. He brought it into the light outside and this didn’t improve the
look of the creature. If anything, it looked even more ragged, all skin and
bones under dirty yellow striped fur. He ran to the house and yelled for his
mom. Karen came out of the living room, where she had been folding laundry.
“What is it Jack?”
“Mom, look! I found this
kitten in the chicken coop!”
Karen said, “Jack, you can’t
be serious?!” but she saw the bundle in his hands and realized that he was
serious. “Oh, my!” she said. “The poor thing!” She came over and had a look and
said, “I wonder how it got there? Well, lets see what we can do for him. Lets
give him a warm bath and a good rub down. Hopefully that will warm him up. He
doesn’t look to be more than four weeks old!” She dug out an old plastic bin
and filled it with warm soapy water. She coaxed Jack to relinquish the kitten
into the water to warm it up and get all of the mud off.
Unfortunately, she realized
at this point that there were a great many fleas on the creature as well. She
gave it a very complete lather and picked off every flea she could find. She
also discovered that this was a female. She said to Jack, “Go see if you can
get me the flea comb we have for Snitch. This little gal has quite a few! I
don’t want them in the house.” After a good lather and combing, she placed the
little cat in a warm towel and rubbed it dry. When they were done, they had a
little yellow tabby with white paws and a white chin and nose. It kept trying
to open its eyes but couldn’t seem to keep them open. Jack had been breathless
through all of this, and the rest of the family had gathered as well. Even
Johnathan had come down from his office to see what was going on.
Karen said, “Well, what
should we feed it? Do you have any ideas John?”
Joe said, “Milk!”
Ellie said, “Peanut Butter!”
Johnathan thought for a
minute and said, “I think I am going to need to make a trip to the vet and also the
pet store, but for now, lets see if it will take some of that baby goat formula
the other people left for us.” He went off to find it.
He came back a few minutes
later with a can and a medicine dropper. They opened the can and warmed some of
it up and placed the little dropper in the tiny mouth. The kitten took a little
bit of the formula and then went to sleep, all the while being cradled in the
towel in Jack’s hands.
“Stay there Jack. Let me
call the vet and see if we can bring her in today. I suspect she is gonna need
more than what we have here.”
Karen looked at Johnathan.
They really couldn’t afford another pet, but they could tell in that way that
married couples just know, that there was no denying this one. Johnathan
nodded. It looked like, if this cat pulled though, they might have another
member of the family. They’d pay the vet bills somehow. A quick call revealed
that the vet could see them that day, so they all piled into the van. Nobody
wanted to be left behind. Everyone could sense that this was big family news
and they all wanted to be part of it.
At the vet’s, the kitten was
examined closely and pronounced to be flea free... at the moment anyway. The vet
said that the kitten likely had worms, but it would be best to wait for it to
recover somewhat before de-worming it. She also confirmed that the kitten was
probably around four weeks old, thus ideally she should be in the middle of the
weaning stage. The vet gave her a syringe full of kitten formula with a feeding
tube and explained that he hoped she would be strong enough to eat on her own
soon. Using a tube to feed was risky if the person didn’t know what they were
doing, but the vet hoped this meal would kick-start her to feed on her own. He
advised that they either leave the kitten with him to recover and get her
de-wormer and shots before going back to their place, or take her home for a
day or two before bringing her back. They needed to be very careful about the
worms and possibly other diseases spreading if they did take her home. Upon
discussion, they all decided to bring the kitten home and keep her in the
laundry room with a heating pad, so the vet gave the Katz’s a kitten formula
and some cat-food as well as a mild flea bath to make sure the fleas were
completely gone. They would bring her back in a couple of days.
On the way home, the Katz’s
discussed a name. Joe wanted to name her “Yellow” and Emma wanted to name her
“Kit Kit”. Karen said that Jack had found her, so he should be the one to name
her. He thought about it most of the way home. So far the kitten had been in a
bit of a stupor, but with some food in her belly, she was beginning to revive in a sleepy kind of way.
Suddenly, she let out a really loud “MEW!”
Startled, Jack said, “How
about 'Yeller'? She’s yellow and she yells, so I think she should be 'Yeller'. “
“Yeller it is!” said
Johnathan. Now the little thing had a name.
For the next two days they
kept her in the laundry room in a cardboard box to keep her away from the dog
and to contain any more parasites she might have. Karen gave her another flea
bath and she seemed to be free of the little pests after that. She ate really
well. It was a mixture of water, kitten formula and small bits of solid cat
food. She wasn’t really putting on too much weight yet, but she was more alert.
She even started to potty train herself, mostly going on the newspaper and not
in her box.
As she started to gain some
strength, she started to move about and play and really wanted out of the room.
The constant really loud “meowing” was hard to ignore, and it was next to impossible
for the kids to get their work done. How can you ignore such loud and strident
demands to be let out? They all just really wanted to go in there and play with
her, and Karen could do without any more distractions. She was
finding it hard enough as it was to get anyone to focus on their studies with
the baby and Joe constantly interrupting, so it was with some relief that Karen
and the kids finally took the kitten in to the vet for de-worming a couple of
days later. The vet insisted that he needed to keep the kitten overnight. The
initial de-worming could be a little messy and a tad risky on such a little
kitten, but it needed to be done, so they sadly left her there. She would also
get her vaccinations while she was there. Meanwhile, they prepared a nice
little bed for her and a litter box for when she got home, and waited.
Snitch had been a little
confused by all of this. He could smell the cat but he couldn’t understand why
the smell and the sounds were coming out of the laundry room. He had sat by the
laundry room the past two days perplexed and alert. There was definitely
something in there alive and it was making the oddest sounds!
When Yeller came home from
the vets, Snitch greeted his people and the cat with a whine. Something was odd
here. Why were they holding that creature? They barely even said hello to him!
They put the little creature down on the kitchen floor and Snitch came over to
sniff it. There was a creature in his house, and it smelled like the thing that
had been behind the door! He was supposed to protect his people from creatures
in the house! He barked at it and the thing puffed out like it had suddenly
grown two sizes and hissed at him. Really excited now, Snitch started barking
and the thing ran like lightening into the other room. He’d get it now! He ran
after it, barking all the way. He was being a good dog! But his people yelled
“No Snitch!” and chased after him and picked up the creature and said he was a
bad dog. How could this be? He whined. He was confused.
The biggest pup, Sarah,
picked up the little yellow animal and hugged it. She said, “Snitch, this is
your new friend. Be nice to her.” She held the thing on her lap and then
allowed him to come up and sniff it. Yep, this was the smell from the laundry
room. He looked at Sarah and back at the little furry thing. It hissed at him.
He stuck his nose near it to sniff it again and the thing scratched his nose!
Ouch! He didn’t like it! He whined and moved away. Alpha female said, “Snitch,
you leave it.” Snitch knew these sounds. It meant he had to not play or eat
whatever it was. Well, he was happy to “leave it” now. He went and lay down on
his bed with a dejected air. He didn’t like this at all.
In the following weeks the
kitten wreaked havock on the house. She peed and pooed in the wrong places, she
scratched up the living room furniture, she jumped on the kitchen countertops,
and she provided endless distraction for the kids. The baby, Emma, wanted to
play with her and crawled around chasing her yelling “ditty!” Joe was even
faster, but he didn’t know how to treat her gently. They are all on their toes
constantly to prevent a calamity. Over time, though, they all learned how to
deal with her gently and she learned her manners as well.
It was fortunate that the
family was home most of the time. They were able to scoot her off the counter
the moment she jumped up there, and tell her “no” and move her to the litter
box whenever she eliminated in the wrong place. She acquired a shimmery red
collar and started to grow, now that she was worm-free. She filled in and her
fur became glossy and soft. She never did get very big, though, and they all
wondered what had happened to her mother. They never did see any cats around
the house before or after Yeller’s arrival.
It was agreed that she would
have to remain an indoor cat. Nobody wanted to see what would happen when she
met the chickens again, and Karen and Johnathan knew that one cat could
decimate the local bird and reptile population, and they didn’t want to be a
party to that. This, however, also took some getting used to. Yeller frequently
tried to sneak out, and so everyone had to be a lot more careful going in and
out of the house. She did get out once or twice, but fortunately, she never
went very far, and it was easy to entice her with a bit of string or catnip.
Yeller met Justin and Beth-Ann.
She also met Rose and David. They all just loved her. She provided endless
entertainment with her antics. She would scoot a small toy across the hard
floor with bats of her paws and then tackle it, simultaneously flipping over
and landing on the floor to get it. A second later she would dash off and try
to climb the drapes. You had be careful playing with her because her little
kitten claws and teeth were razor sharp and she had yet to learn how to not
bite or scratch so hard.
When Yeller was ten weeks
old, she had to go back to the veterinarian’s office to get spayed. She stayed
the night and came back with a shaved spot on her belly, several stitches, and
a cone on her head. The poor cat. The cone was both amusing and sad to look at.
It was meant to keep her from pulling her stitches out, but it also kept her
from washing herself, running very fast, or eating without difficulty. She had
this look of utter embarrassment on her face much of the time, which more than
the cone, put everyone in stitches. Hearing people laugh at her was highly
offensive of course and she would stalk off to sulk.
Really enjoying each installment. thanks. Mom
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