Those Crazy Katz' of Windsong Lane : Chapter 11

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.

Strangely, Snitch at this point suddenly became friendly to the cat. He stopped trying to chase or ignore her, and actually came up and offered her some companionship. She couldn’t turn around and scratch him, so that might have been part of it. The cone eventually came off, but they were best buddies after that. They often slept together and groomed each other. They even learned how to play together, though Yeller often ended it just when Snitch was just getting interested. Yeller was of a very sweet disposition and she grew up very happy and comfortable around people and dogs. In the meantime, however, several pieces of furniture and a few pillows were ruined and many a lesson was interrupted by a flying yellow torpedo attack to the ankles.