We've Adopted Two New Sweet Babies (Kittens)!

     Meet Blossom and Starlet, our new kitties!

     As you can imagine, my two daughters are already head-over-heels in love with their 9-week-old baby kittens we just picked up from friends on Tuesday evening.

     They have asked for kittens for years and years, and I've always said "no."  Not because I don't like kittens...but because we have an eleven-year-old cat who doesn't really want any competition. 

     Recently, though, we learned from our veterinarian that our middle-aged cat, Samantha, has some kind of untreatable disease. 

Samantha

     Samantha came to our family about nine years ago, when a neighbor was no longer able to take care of her properly.  She was at least two years old, and she had already had one litter of kittens before our neighbor found her.  She had been spayed after her litter of kittens, and someone had dumped her off at the end of a nearby road.  Our neighbors, realizing that she was a very tame, sweet cat who had also been spayed and had been taken very good care of, began to care for her as their own.

     Samantha has never liked very young children, or children with little self-control.  She has never liked crowds of people, so when we invite more than 5 people over at one time, she disappears (usually outside).

     She has also never liked going to the veterinarian.  In fact, she hates it SO much that she has the "angry pet" sticker on her chart.  Even I cannot calm her down or help remove her from the cat carrier.  She would scratch my eyes out!

     Our sweet Samantha used to weigh over 12 lbs.  However, in the last year or so, she has lost half of her body weight.  We decided last month not to do blood testing on her in order to figure out what is wrong, because the veterinarian told us it was most likely one of three untreatable problems:  FIV, Feline Leukemia, or Diabetes.  We are suspecting diabetes, because she does drink a lot more water than she used to do.

     Diabetes IS treatable, to a point.  However, our sweet Samantha is so intolerable of injections or any medications, it would kill her over time to have to deal with shots twice a day. 

     How do I know this?  We tried homeopathic drops in her mouth twice a day for a homeopathic flea remedy a few years ago.  She let us know in her own unpleasant way that she was not going to tolerate getting drops. 

     I'm just thankful that she finally allows me to trim her claws and put flea medicine on her once a month.  But that was after many months of working with her.

     Our plan was to wait and get two kittens (hopefully, siblings) after our beloved Samantha passed on.

     However, sometimes the best laid plans come to a screeching halt!

     Last week, I learned that some friends of ours had a litter of kitties that needed to find new homes.  Their mama had disappeared after an injury to the head; fortunately, the kittens were already weaned. 

     The kittens had been loved and played with a lot by the children in the family.  Since the children are from ages 2-17, we knew that this was a good thing!

     It is fairly easy to find kittens to adopt, but after experiencing having one cat who didn't have a good personality, a number of years ago, I decided a long time ago that it wasn't so much the colors or markings that would help me choose a new kitten or cat; it would be the personality of the cat and how it had been raised and tamed down.

     So, we bought some kitty chow and a few other things to help us transition two kitties into our home. 

     We brought the adorable little kitties home with us on Tuesday night.  They were a bit scared and a tad bit nervous, but they were also very curious and cuddly.

     Samantha, the older cat, isn't too pleased about them being inside our home, but she was doing better by Wednesday evening.  (I think after she discovered the kitty chow, she relaxed a bit.  Of course, we quickly closed the bathroom door so she can't eat it!)

     The joy and excitement on my daughters' faces when they watch the kitten antics in the living room is priceless.  It brings me back to my childhood, when I had a new kitten a couple of times, and how thrilled I was to be able to take care of a new cat or kitten. 

     The girls have been extremely responsible with their guinea pigs over the last two months.  I am so pleased with this.  I know they will take wonderful care of their little kitties, too!

     We're praying as a family that our sweet Samantha will realize that we can easily love her as well as two additional kitties...all at the same time. 

     But we are already well on our way to totally loving these new kitties as much as we love and enjoy our Samantha cat. 

     Thank you, Lord, for such simple pleasures of family pets and the memories which are created with them.

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