Our New Addition

We have a new member of the family!

A few weeks ago a neighbour knocked on our door during the afternoon asking if we'd lost a kitten. Of course we hadn't but I lurve cats....
Foz however, hates cats. He's totally a dog person and Bee, well, Bee is just afraid of every animal you can think ok, from cows to fish to fluffy bunny rabbits. 

So I told the neighbour that if she had no luck finding the owner (and if she couldn't keep hold of the kitten) that we'd have her for a few days, until a rescue centre would take her or the owners turned up.

Later that evening there was a knock on the door, it was the neighbour with the kitten. She was a beautiful little thing, black with white markings and ever so skinny. I could feel every knobble of her spine. That evening all the kitten wanted was to be cuddled, she followed me everywhere, miowing and rubbing at my ankles. When not following me round she was curled up on my knee sleeping. A very sweet, affectionate kitten and I was smitten.

However, I'd made a deal with Foz: he would let me keep hold of her for a few days while I looked for the owner or a rescue centre. So the following day I starting ringing round. The first two centres both said that they were full and had long waiting lists of cats needing a space (depressing in itself) but they could add me to the list and ring when a space became available. Thanks but no thanks. I gave them all the details about her & my phone number in case any owner rang up looking for her and moved on to rescue centre 3. It turns out that the number belonged to an individual that provided a small rescue service, not a center. The lady was lovely and we talked for quite a time. She couldn't help me immediately as her limited resources were full and she was off on her jollies but she promised she would ring me on her return. During this morning of phonecall-making Foz must have been doing some deliberating as once I'd put down the phone for the 3rd time he asked "do you want to keep the cat?". Well duh! Of course I wanted to keep the cat but not at the expense of his happiness. He told me that on the proviso that I fed her, cleaned the litter tray and generally did the 'care' side of it then I could keep her, if no owners showed up.

 

I was thrilled! I'd been desperate for a cat since losing Kitty in January 2010 but couldn't get Foz to agree to having another.

That afternoon we went into town for the essentials: cat food, litter tray, flea and worm stuff etc etc. It was thrilling to be out shopping for my new kitten, I was so excited but at the same time dreading that phone call telling me an owner had turned up. With that in mind I'd decided to wait a week or so before giving her a name, just in case, while in the meantime just referring to her as 'kitty' or 'the kitten'.

A week went by and nobody phoned or knocked on the door and so (from my Grandma's suggestion) we gave the kitten her new name:

~ Minnie! ~

Of course! What else could we have called her when we have a toddler obsessed with Minnie Mouse! To make the difference between mouse and cat clear we've been calling the kitten Minnie Cat, although Bee is currently calling her "mi mo". I think this is because Bee doesn't think of 'Minnie Mouse' as two words, just one that describes that character. Hopefully as her understanding and communication skills increase this will clear up for her.

Minnie Cat has now been with us for about three weeks and has settled in beautifully. She's a very affectionate cat, although she has stopped following us around miaowing at our ankles! Now she's content to sleep on our knee if we're sat down and just on the sofa if not. She's still only a baby and has her manic moments where she charges round the house, leaping on the furniture and attacking anything that moves but the thing that I've found the most endearing is her absolute conviction that she's a dog. Never in my life have I seen a cat roll over on to her back for a tummy tickle. Or growl when someone knocks on the front door.

I've missed having a cat and I love having Minnie sleep peacefully on my knee of an evening, or playing the mighty hunter when I dangle her cat toy. Bee is still a little wary of her. She's quite happy to come over and look at Minnie, and will say "hello" to her. She's even graduated to using the doll's hand to stroke her. Baby steps! We're hoping Minnie will continue to settle with us and will actually help Bee overcome some of her confidence issues in relation to animals, and if not: she's still cute and fluffy!