#straycat – Amy's Axons

Hubby and I weren’t sure if we were being tricked or treated when the Kitty Stork landed a very sick, flea-ridden, worm-infested, 8-week old kitten in our laps on Halloween night. The little tike had apparently ridden into our neighborhood in the engine of a car and was running around between houses trying to find a safe place. He was super sweet but exhausted and scared. When God brings such a needy creature straight to your door – you take it in, of course. As we bathed him to get rid of the fleas, we realized he had sustained some injuries to his nose and mouth from his hitchhiking exploit. (He also has a couple of uncontrollable squirty black stools when washing him up.) So…since there’s no such thing as a “free kitten”, my tenderhearted Hubby spent 3 hours at the emergency animal hospital getting our new boy sorted, not getting home until midnight.

Awaiting antibiotics, a shot for pain, a bolus of fluid (he was severely dehydrated), a dewormer, some special food, and blood work at the emergency vet hospital.

We named him Frank, put him in the guest bathroom for quarantine, and took turns sitting with him for the next couple of weeks. He slept and slept for three days straight, only waking to eat, use the litter and PURR as he snuggled and looked into our eyes with soft, slow blinks.

His chin had a big ol’ scab and some puffy proud flesh. Within less than a week his fleas were gone and so were the worms. He started perking up, exploring the room, playing with toys, and giving lots of kitty kisses 😘.

Our regular vet saw him and eventually gave us the all clear for him to meet Wally and Clemmy! They had already met through the bathroom door but we kept their face to face visits short and carefully supervised. Slowly but surely, Clemmy and Wally made friends with Frank and have continued to help him learn proper cat manners 😉.

The scabs finally fell off and in this photo you can see his injuries were well on the way to healing.

Oh, what a JOY Frank has been! He is now 14 weeks old and we’ve had him for six weeks. He has a gorgeous classic tabby pattern and is a looker!! He loves to be held, follows us everywhere we go, gives lots of kitty kisses, has a sonorous purr, and is a voracious eater. He plays and plays and plays and plays some more! He is goofy and funny and sweet and cuddly and adorable…I could gush on and on.

I took this and the following pictures this afternoon. It seems like he has grown a noticeable amount every day this last week – he’s getting long and tall!

Frank LOVES Wally. (Who wouldn’t?!) Frank is growing on Wally (😂). Seriously, Wally has been extremely tolerant and gentle with Frank, especially since Frank seems to have chosen him as his mentor and roughhousing playmate. Thanks to Wally, Frank is learning the rules and boundaries of how to interact.

Wally has a gentle, sweet, yet playful nature, he’s such a good boy 🥰!

Clemmy has wowed us with her sweet, gentle, loving ways. She was the first to boop noses and to lie down next to Frank. Soon thereafter, we noticed she would groom his ears every time she was beside him. She now licks his face and grooms his neck too. Mutual grooming is a very important cat bonding behavior and it’s been wonderful to watch Clemmy initiate it with Frank.