Icarus

In case anybody needs a reminder of their Greek mythology; Icarus was a prisoner of the King or Crete.  His father made him a pair of wings to facilitate his escape but warned him to not fly too close to the sun or the wax holding the feathers in place would melt.  Unfortunately when Icarus tried the wings he was caught up in the exuberance of flying and....you guessed it.....flew too close to the sun.  The wax melted, the feathers fell out of the wings and Icarus fell to his demise in the Icarian Sea.

On October 5 neighbors, previously unknown to me rang my doorbell.  They had found a kitten in their backyard and been told that I cared for the feral cats in the neighborhood.  The little critter could easily be cupped in my hands.  Although I felt that the creature should have been left where he had been found, the intent of these people was good.  I took him inside and offered him some food and Whiskers Cat Milk.  I was relieved to find that he ate both soft and hard food and would take the milk from saucer.  I was not going to have to bottle feed him.  I was not so thrilled to discover that he had fleas.

Immediately interested in food

Settling into "indoor life" on the back of the couch

Remington is very curious. Neither one seems intimidated by the other

immediately Sooty, Remington and Dude were given flea treatments and the kitten was given a bath in the kitchen sink. I would have given him a treatment too if it did not state on the back of the box that young kittens should not receive treatment. I have flea combs that I use for combing knots out of Sooty fur when she starts getting matted, between the bath and the comb I battled fleas for several days. Poor little thing was being eaten alive. The water turned red when I set him into it. In spite of having his life turned upside down kitten did not seem very perturbed and was eager to explore new surroundings. He again surprised me in a pleasant way when he immediately jumped into a litter box and did his business. Remington and Dude took an immediate interest in him. At times to snuggle with him and at times to treat him like a wind up toy. They would pounce on him and wrestle him to the ground till he squealed. I would break them apart only to have kitten swat the face of the other cat. I decided to let them be. Sooty is a different story. Coming within a foot of her personal space is a sure way to be growled at and if you come within swatting distance, kitten will be swatted. And yet he keeps on hopping into her range and pouncing on her tail. He has been warned and warned and warned but his exuberance cannot be curbed...thus I have taken to calling him Icarus.

Once he is old enough I will begin to look for a home to adopt him to. I am hopeful that I will find a home that has a cat that needs a companion, or at least a family who will have lots of time to play with him. In spite of the fact that he is not going to be a forever cat, me and Remington and Dude are becoming very smitten with this little fluffball....I think even Sooty is going to miss him when the time comes.

MY social experiment

Normally I post to my blog as a means to vent my ideas and brag or bemoan my critter issues.

Today it has been brought back to the front of my pondering brain a query i posed a while back when the Super 7 lotto was up to something like 50 million. 

I asked friends and co-workers if they were given 50 million dollars

but wait there is a twist

you get to keep 10 million

40 million you have to give to charity.

Yeah I know Operah did something like this with REAL money, and I am only posing a hypothetical query. 

I was delighted at the responses that I received.  We all imagine what it would be like to win a lottery, big or small, and how it would change out lives.  New house, new car, vacations...but with 50 million you have to dream even bigger.  I was amazed to find that most people that I posed the question to did not hesitate to answer how they would spend/inverst 40 million dollars and nobody quibbled that 10 million was not enough.

As most people would guess; my personal answer to my own query was that I would set up an animal sanctuary.  I thoght the answers I was going to receive would be "donate to cancer research" "donate to Red Cross" but the answers that I received were thought out and inspired.  furthermore the question really created excitement and and a fun exchange of ideas.

I really enjoyed getting feedback to my question.  It made me realize that the average person has a generous nature, that dreams of making the world a better place are right up there with dreams of making their personal lives better.

Would really love getting more feedback...if you cant post here (I have trouble posting to peoples blogs latley) my email is a366764@live.com

Outdoor cats turned to finicky cats

Remington and Doodle (Dude is so silly I started adding a "le" to his name) have not only settled in but they have taken over.  I have to lock Doodle out of my bedroom when I sleep.  That is the only one on one time that I have with Sooty these days. 

Remington getting snuggles

These boys have laid claim to the basement, ground floor and upstairs.  They demand clean litter boxes, lots of snuggles, and have become finicky eaters

They are not very fond of Presidents Choice Cat food, kinda like Iams, but prefer Sootys calorie reduced stuff, and if they truly had their choice they would still be eating the Meow mix that they ate when they were outdoor cats.  They prefer canned food to dry, and (thankfully) the rattle of the treats bag gets them running back into the house on the occasions that they slip outside.