Charlie

[LaChatte]

Last night I took in a tiny kitten as his "owner" was no longer capable of looking after him.

His name's Charlie, he was crawling with fleas and has quite bad coryza. I'm not sure how old he is, but at a guess I'd say about 6-8 weeks.

Last night we put him in a travel crate, with lots of straw and some water, 12yo DS slept on the floor next to him (literally, I came in to find him lying on his rug with various items of discarded clothing in lieu of bedding). I nipped out to pick up some kitten kibble, pouches and milk this morning, and made him a temporary litter tray out of an old baking dish. I let him out of the crate and he went straight to the litter tray, then I gave him some food and he wolfed it down.

We've spent the day playing and cuddling him, and right now he is curled up in a ball fast asleep next to me while the DCs play Lego.

We're keeping him in quarantine until we see the vets tomorrow.

The photo is a bit dark, but I'll post some more later.

We had no intention of getting anymore pets (DCat and DDog already present), and this is only supposed to be temporary, until his "owner" gets his life sorted out. I have a sneaky suspicion it's going to be permanent. How awful for us.

Yes, keeping him would be awful.

YY that would be terrible.

Dreadful. He's such a lovely little stick. Dreadful.

Aw what a cutie! :)

How gorgeous is he?!!! He is very similar in colouring to the little stray I took in almost a year ago (we were also not going to keep him, but needless to say we had fallen for his charms within 24 hours)

He looks very content.

Lucky you. Lucky him.

Trip to the vets went well, she agreed, 6-8 weeks old and yes, he has coryza, but not too severely, with regular cleaning and eye drops he'll be fine. She gave us some worming tablets too, and an appointment for in one month to get his jabs done (provided the coryza has cleared up).

WIBU to keep all the vet's bills and present them to the "owner" if he wants him back?

Oh and he's discovered he's got claws and teeth, and how to use them for "fun"

Do you really think that the 'owner' is going to want him back though? It sounds to me as if you've got yourselves a new kit.

How are the other animals reacting to him?

Haven't introduced him to the other animals yet, am going to give him a few more days to settle in first.

The "owner" is in fact my ex (DS's dad). Long story short, I had to do a three hour round trip on Saturday night to rescue DS from his dad's house as his dad had passed out drunk on the sofa I called an ambulance for him, and DS begged me to let him take the kitten home, so we did. I spoke to Ex yesterday afternoon, he'd been released from A&E but has been booked in to the place that treats people with sever addictions for today if he shows up . He had no idea how he got to hospital, or where the kitten was, so I told him what had happened, he said he was going to get help but would most likely be in hospital for a couple of weeks, then he'd take the cat back once he was better.

Are you prepared to keep the kitten? Because I rather think he's your cat now. (Call him DS's cat for the sake of public consumption, perhaps.) He's unlikely to stay with your ex anyway in all the circumstances. Cats aren't daft - if a place is a no go, they'll move on if possible until they can find a real home.

Hmm. I wouldn't be in a hurry to give the kitten back. He's obviously not fit to look after him. Hopefully the vet's bill should be a deterrent. Definitely don't give him back unless he's pays you back, and it sounds as though he's unlikely to do that as it's money that could go on alcohol .... If he does come up with the money then you'll need to think of another excuse/delaying tactic.

It's not as if he'd had much time conscious to bond with him or anything. But yes, I will keep the vet's bill and ask him to pay me back if he wants him back, which I seriously he will do.

I'm already more than fond of the little chap.

Seriously doubt sorry.

How kind of you to offer this little cutie a home, because it seems that's what will happen. He's gorgeous and how much would you worry if you gave him back. You'd fret nonstop and so would your ds.

I got beautifullymixed tortiecat at six weeks too. Neighbour had taken in a stray not knowing she was pregnant, until one day they found her in the back of a cupboard with four kits.

Well I fell in love with the pictures and neighbour was going on holiday, so had her early. She was tiny, it was like having a newborn baby.
I bet you feel overprotective of this little mite after the rocky start he's had too.

That last picture you posted just shrieks 'Love My Mummy'.

Charlie has been settling in well Although yesterday he seemed a little under the weather, he's back to his happy little self this morning.

Things are going surprisingly well with DDog!

Cats and dogs aren't anywhere near as potentially difficult (in my experience) as cats and cats. (Talking of which.........how's he doing with your other cat?)

They're ignoring each other, which is fine by me!

Quite!

PS - I should have added that I'd hazard a guess that this ignoring means that they've actually had a quick spat when you weren't watching and that the kitten has been 'told off' in no uncertain terms - so he's now being studiedly cautious around the other cat. (You said he was a bit subdued yesterday?) Is your other cat a female?

Doesn't mean that they won't become fast friends of course - once he's learned his place!

Yes other cat is a lady. They haven't been in unsupervised contact at all, although they were both in the garden with me this morning pretending not to notice each other (at one point lady cat tried to pounce on Charlie, but she missed her footing and tripped over, much to her embarrassment! after that, she left the garden.

He was under the weather from the coryza I think, his nose might have been a bit bunged up, therefor he didn't eat much.