Almost three weeks ago now, Adam went to our local 24-hour gym for a late night workout on a Tuesday night. It's about a half mile from our house, across a busy intersection, in a shopping center. Sometimes he likes to run there for a warm-up. So, several Tuesdays ago, he did just that, then was running home about 10:30 at night. As he was leaving the parking lot he heard a kitty meow-ing very rapidly, very loudly. It was in the parking lot of a boat marina across the street. There's a boat marina on one side, woods on the other, a shopping center on the other, and a main road on the other. No homes are nearby at all. The kitty ran up to him (so he says!) and cried and cried. (I'm sure he stopped to pet it here...) He started running and it ran behind him crying, up to the busy intersection. When Adam began to cross the intersection the kitty started following. He was worried about him, so he picked him up and got clawed. The kitty still followed, so Adam took off his sweaty gym shirt, and carried the kitty in it across the street, in front of stopped traffic, at 10:30 at night! (Only in Delaware!) The kitty continued to follow him, he picked him up to cross another semi-busy road, and then followed him all the way to our front porch (so I'm told!). I was upstairs editing pics and heard the dogs carrying on. I wondered if I locked him out, or why Adam was on the porch. I looked out the window and he pointed down to his feet. I look and saw the little orange kitten and shook my head "no."
But of course, I immediately went out through the garage to see where he came from and pet him. The dogs were going nuts. The kitty was crying and ran right up to me and rubbed all over my legs. He clearly was friendly and wanted to be with people. I just knew I couldn't leave this kitty outside alone. If he did have a home, he was now clearly lost. And he was SO tiny! Who would let that little kitten outside? And, since he was crying and so attached to people, I couldn't see how he would wander far from home. We decided he was clearly dumped in that parking lot. Maybe even minutes before Adam got there...
We tried putting the kitty in a dog crate, which he hated, to bring him inside for the night. In the morning I would take him to the shelter. The dogs were going nuts, Brutus couldn't handle it. Tyson couldn't care less after a few minutes. We wanted to keep the kitty in the crate overnight, but he just cried and cried, but was fine when we let him out. I sent Adam to Meijer for a midnight kitty run. He came back with a litter pan, litter, food, treats, and three toys! What all did this kitty need??? So, we went to bed late, the kitty cried in the crate in the laundry room. We moved the crate to our room, he clawed and cried there and Brutus went nuts. So, finally, I moved into the spare bedroom and slept in the bed with kitty there. All night, he cuddled and he wanted to nurse. He was clearly just separated from his mother. :(
The next day, I let Brutus sniff the kitty while out of the crate and off leash. He was curious and playful and nosed him around a bit, but never had any aggressive behavior. But he was OBSESSED. His little pea brain would only say "KITTY! KITTY! KITTY! KITTY!" over and over again.
I had a sleepless night, so I knew that couldn't continue. So, I took him to the Humane Society the next day. The woman (who seemed to be on drugs) told me to put him back where I found him!!! In the middle of an intersection?? "Oh, no, don't do that..." she replied. So, I was stuck. I called around to five other shelters - none could take any more cats, not even a kitten. I posted notes on Facebook and asked around at work, and no one was really interested. It looked like we were going to be stuck with this kitty for a while.
After about a day (haha!), he really started to grow on us. I sought advice from the Dog Whisperer (what would Cesar do?) and got Brutus to calm down around the kitty. Everyone was starting to fit in nicely and cats are such quirky animals. We decided to take him to the vet to make sure he wasn't ill, and they were convinced we'd keep him, even though we hadn't picked/agreed on a name. We also wanted to make sure "he" was a "he." And, he was! After we got the good vet report, we felt compelled to buy a $100 kitty jungle gym, feather toy, collar, food bowls, etc. No, we're still not keeping him!
Little kitty really began to fit in and we finally agreed upon one name - Maverick. It fit - from Adam's favorite movie "Top Gun" and my favorite roller coaster "Maverick" at Cedar Point. And, if I ever wanted a kitty, I had wanted an orange and white one named Maverick, I had decided several years ago.
We threw out the names: Dr. Claw, Goose, Archie, Lord Donkey Kong, Leo, Finn, Nash, Paws Janish, and Louie (you can imagine which ones Adam came up with). I looked up Maverick and found that it means "wildly independent" and that when baby cattle stray from their mothers at a young age, they are called mavericks. And, the first "farmer" to find them and brand them, gets to keep them. That sounded very fitting for Maverick's story. We immediately "branded" him with his jingle bell collar.
So, everyone's still adjusting to Maverick. Tyson is not a big fan. They typically try to ignore each other, but occasionally Tyson gets a little jealous. Brutus and Mav are best buds. Adam and I are allergic. So, it's an adjustment for everyone. He is definitely a Momma's Kitty though! He always comes to cuddle with me (usually while sitting at my computer) when he finally tires out.
Mav LOVES to climb, play with toys, and can entertain himself with a piece of trash for hours. He's so fun to watch. He knew exactly how to use his litter box right away, and he's very friendly. How can you not love him immediately?? He's no dog, but I sure love this guy already, even if he does climb on my counter tops!
Both us, and the vet, estimated that he was about 10 weeks old when we found him. We traced the dates back to figure out his birthday, and we counted back ten weeks prior to us finding him. That date was 11:30pm the night before Tyson's birthday!! So, we are calling Maverick's birthday June 15 - same day as Tyson's! I guess it was all just meant to be! :)
I guess everyone knew all along that he's find his new home with us!! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment