A tale of two kitties...

AKA: An introduction to the fur children...

On the 13th of January 2011, Cyclone Vania had just passed through Vanuatu waters and battered Port Vila, the capital city, where I live, with gale force winds as it passed south of us and headed off towards New Caledonia. The weather was miserable and the waves were pounding the sea shore like this...

This same day, while sharing cyclone stories with other locals at the favoured cafe, I bumped into a friend of mine who was working at the local vets. After chatting for a little while, she presented me with an unusual challenge. To handraise four 2 day old kittens that had been dropped off at the vets the day before.

I have never been a cat lover. I always hated the way they rubbed round your ankles when they wanted food, and I'd grown up with large dogs, like dobermans, alsatians and rottweilers. I was a dog person through and through. But upon hearing of these little pusskat's plight, and realising that I had nothing better to do with my time, I decided to give it a crack. Little did I realise that the decision would change me completely.

That day I went to the vets office, learned how to make hot water bottles, mix formula and bottle feed the babies, and within an hour I left with a box of four itty bitty kitties that looked just like this...

I took them home, much to The Man's horror and amusement, and set about feeding and toileting the squiggling, close eyed little buggers every two to three hours (even in the middle of the night)! They all shared a teeny little bottle that had a little rubber teat on the end with a pinhole in it which they'd suck on. In the early days 20 mls of formula was all that was required for each feed for ALL of them!

After a few days, one of the babies stopped sucking and her legs went a bit funny. After 24 hours of intensive care (and a few tears from the "I don't like cats" lady), the decision was made to put this poor little creature to sleep and send her off to kitty heaven... :o(

And then there were three...

Three gorgeous kitties who soon opened their eyes and started wandering around the house, and who began their journey with me, from crayons to perfume, so to speak.

By the end of the month the little critters were getting around looking like this...

And by the end of the second month they were ready to find homes. The white one was placed with a friend of mine who desperately wanted a white cat to replace her other cat that had been hit by a car. However, we ran into a snag homing the other two... Particularly after The Man picked up the Ginger Ninja, looked him in the eye, and told him "you're staying with me aren't you mate". Can't blame him though. Who wouldn't want a kitten that does this???!!!

So after divesting ourselves of the white cat, and The Man "bagsing" the Ginger Ninja for himself, we were left with trying to find a home for the slightly "slow" sister, who had always been a little bit behind the others and isn't quite the full quid.

In the end, we couldn't find a suitable taker for her, so she ended up happily staying with us and her brother...

The pusskats are much, much bigger now, and have each developed unique personalities of their own. I'm not entirely convinced that they know they're cats. They come to a whistle, sneak dog food out of the dog food bin, and do their best to be included in the human being meal times as if it's their birthright. But the most remrkable thing is that they've converted me. From being a dog person through and through, to loving (some, ok 2) cats.

After all the time nd effort that we've put into these little critters, I often say that I love them "as if they came out of my tummy". And while they may face some competition on that front in June next year, they will still hold the place of being my first "children".