Scruffy

About two years ago, sontwo came home with a tiny kitty in his hands. He said he'd found it in the ditch at the end of our driveway. I said we couldn't keep it. We're really dogpeople, rather than catpeople. We'd just been through the death of our beloved 12-yr. old german shepherd and besides, I knew in a few short years the boys would be off to college -- leaving you-know-who to take care of the cat. So, sontwo said he knew of a few girls who would probably love a new kitty.

The next night, sontwo came home with the kitty again. Gee mom, they can't keep it, but they took it to the vet and he thinks it's a girl and it's about 6 weeks old, he said. Well. Fine. So, after about a week, the little kitty didn't seem to be doing very well. TheManofTheHouse poked around and found a little hole in the kitty's neck. We were clueless, so we took the poor little thing to the emergency clinic. Hmmm...this kitty's a boy and is only about 4 weeks old says the new vet. And this hole is (this is gross so close your eyes) a fly larvae. The vet said it's quite common for wild kitties -- they'll poke their head into a hole or something and the fly larvae will rub off onto their fur and the larvae will begin to develop under their skin. Eeeewwww! Anyway, he took it out, we brought the kitty home and after a week of tender loving care by TheManofTheHouse, little kitty thrived.

Turns out, it was a match made in heaven! (Or a big dent in the pocketbook, pick your version of the story.) We've named him Scruffy, and he became our new emptynestchild. Here he is in his favorite place as we speak.
















I know Scruffy was meant to be 'cause he's told me he wants to learn how to sew. There was the time when he came to me with the large darning needle hanging out of his mouth -- it was attached to a piece of candlewicking thread that was already in his stomach and he couldn't figure out what to do with the needle. And then there have been the multiple times when I wake up to find a yarn ball spread all over the house. One time he unrolled one of my yarn balls all over the house right into the basement where he mingled it with the jute ball from a sontwo project that he unrolled.

His true dedication to his education was discovered one morning when TheManofTheHouse gave me an empty ribbon spool and asked if there was anything on it. I said, well, there wa-as. Maybe Scruff ate it, guess we'll just have to watch him. Sure enough a week later, he threwup about 18 inches of ribbon -- only it was still hanging out of his mouth. I pulled. He gagged. I pulled. He gagged. TheManofTheHouse was summoned. He cut the ribbon and Scruff swallowed its remains. Trip to the vet. He gave us some internal grease in hopes that the ribbon would pass.

Two days later, now the Saturday of sontwo's high school graduation, Scruff had stopped eating. TheManofTheHouse took him to the emergency vet (while I entertained the out of town graduation guests) who xrayed him in hopes of finding a blockage. Instead, she found another needle. So, little Scruffy went under the knife and they removed the needle and another 18 inches of ribbon. Bad kitty. Careless mommy. BIG vet bill. I try very hard now to keep my sewing stuff put up, but it's oh so hard.

Sorry for such a long post, but now you've met Scruffy. So far, his story has a happy ending, although there must be more sewing stuff in there 'cause he weighs 17 pounds. Oink. One last pic -- he prefers the water fountain method of procuring his water. Bad kitty.
















XOXO,
Anna