Sweet memories and itty bittiness

Well, my fiance (Charles) and I have been looking for a new little addition to our family (a kitten) for a while. We've been talking about it for about a year now and occassionally went out to look here and there to see if there was one that we just connected with and instantly fell in love with.

For a bit we thought we'd never find another one like our little Lily (she's a Turkish Van mix with light blue eyes, very muscular, and HUGE paws, really pretty girly, looks close to calico but isn't completely.). When we got Lily we were living in our first place together on the other side of town in a little 1 bedroom apartment and something was just missing and I found what it was when I was looking around the shelter here in town at our local humane society shelter.

Lily came with some psychological problems and we were up to the challenge of healing her wounds and giving her a warm loving home that she never had. I don't know what it was that was so traumatic for her when she was little. We adopted her when she was 6 months old and she was a pretty big girl by then. All we knew about her at the time was that the people who brought her in found her on their big farm, several other families actually brought her back to humane society because they could not handle that she needed help, and we wanted something at home to love because there was definitely something simply missing.

It was a challenge to get Lily home actually. She was scared of everything, other people, cars, just everything and was terrified when we got her in the car and I started the engine. The carrier we bought her the day before picking her up... that thing was totaly history!!! She shredded that like it was made of paper! She was, however, instantly comforted by us though and knew she would eventually come around and be the sweet little darling that we knew she was and is.

When Charles and I got her home she actually was so scared I had to hold her and stay up with her all night and sing her to sleep for a week. Otherwise she just wouldn't. Later, about the second week we had her we went to the first vet appointment set for her. We found a little open wound in the middle of her shoulder blades and didn't know what it could be. The vet suggested that it might have been from a brand-x flea and tick drop used on her right before we picked her up from humane society. Since off brands usually are made of harsher and cheaper chemicals it made sense and it could have burned her skin some by causing it irritation. To me it made some sense but I didn't know why it looked so fresh of a wound. So, we put some medicine drops on it each day and it seemed to help.... for the time being.

So, the thing healed but in a week it came back!!! I was horrified to see it again and back to vet we went. Got some different medicine and tried to see if that worked and it didn't. I was so scared that something was eating away at her skin and afraid that it might hurt other parts of her. So, I kept a very very close eye on her the next week to find that it was her hurting her own back! That's when it dawned on me that the poor girl must've had something terribly wrong because she continued to hurt herself. A licking sore on her back.

So, we brought her back to the vet and told him what we had foundout. He thought about putting a dish on her for a bit, LOL... to keep her from being able to turn her head and licking herself but that wouldn't do because she'd be out of that thing in no time! I giggled at the thought of a dish on a cat because it wouldn't be practical but would also look really silly. Anyways, he went on to suggest putting a sock on her to protect her back. It was a good idea actually, because she wouldn't be able to get out of that easy because it would move with her body and it would protect her back if she did try to lick the spot further. However, I wasn't about to let my little baby look silly in a sock.

So, what did we do??? Charles and I brought her home and then we went to the fabric store and got some fabric. When we got home I took my measuring tape and measured her out and made her a little shirt/dress. It was a pink and white plaid pattern with a big white ruffle on the edge and a sparkly little button on the part that went around her neck. The part that went around her tummy I put an elastic band into so it would stretch and bend with her easy. Now her back was protected and she was a stylish kitty. :D It was the PUUUURFECT SOLUTION! :D

Some of our guy friends thought it was ridiculous to dress her up until we told them it had a purpose. The next time we brought her to the vet they were all commenting on what a posh little kitty she was and how spoiled she must be. Pretty funny actually because now she is very sweet, spoiled, and just a darling. Plus, she's the only cat that I know who has her own wardrobe and likes being dressed up.

ANYWAYS, back to now and back from my tangent reminiscing.
It WAS just him, our cat Lily, and I but now we have a new little kitten! She's a tiny little Calico (possibly a ragdoll or angora calico, because her coat isn't short, it's long for a tiny thing) with green/goldish eyes and we named her Daisy! Just like the flower :) Charles has actually never had a kitten, nor has he been exposed to one for so long. It's so adorable because he's so scared of holding her because she's actually a bit smaller than his own hands. (He's afraid of accidentally hurting her) She's just a little bigger than my hands and my hands are pretty tiny, although, I can still scoop her up with just one. It's very cute to see them together. When I see Daisy I never realized how big our Lily was because other people would tell me she was huge but I never thought she was that big... until now. ROFL!!!! Funny how things put other things in perspective.

Lily is still adjusting to Daisy, she doesn't like her being in the same room and if she knows you have been playing with her or holding her she'll hiss at you and be a complete grump. She just has that only child syndrome for now but this is only the 3rd day having Daisy and Lily has not been socialized for being around other cats yet. I know it'll take some time. Charles was concerned because of Lily's reaction and I had to assure him that it was normal. He felt a bit better after reading a few articles online about it and realized that it's completely normal behavior. She'll possibly come around in about a week or so because she needs to get use to Daisy's little baby kitty smell around the house first before she gets use to her presence here.

We actually have a playmat that Lily didn't quite like when I got it for her way back so it had been stored away. Well, when I got Daisy home and brought out the playmat she pretty much claimed the thing and went wild playing with every little thing on it and loves to sleep in the little "hut". lol

We got Daisy from a locally ran pet store at the mall here in town. They don't deal with places like puppy mills which is a plus but I know they deal with private breeders for dogs and some cats and I'm not all that crazy about breeders because there are animals in shelters who depersately need a home... But when we saw Daisy in the window we just fell in love and would not leave without her. It was one of those moments where that little kid inside of you starts playing that song that goes, "how much is that puppy in the window, the one with the waggley tail", except for a little kitty. So, my head was playing, "how much is that kitty in the window, the one with the little pink nose". I'm a huge dork. LOL

Charles fell in love too, he saw her and completely loved her. He tried to be his practical and logical self and think out the desicion and point out the reasons why we shouldn't get her and point out the reasons why we should but his heart strings were already tugged on and I knew as practical and logical as he tried to be his mind was already made up. So, after 45mins of walking around window shopping together and thinking about the little dear we saw in the window we headed back and scooped her up and brought her home. Seeing how happy she was and purring so loudy and seeing Charles' eyes twinkle up and his smile so big when he held her made it all worth while. We know we picked a sweetheart to be Lily's little sissy and a great little girly to be part of our tiny little family.

I'll have some pictures later. For now I'm taking care of the little one while Charles is asleep.

Pictures later today!
-Linda