There are Tabbies and Tortoiseshell, Black Cats and White, All happy and purring from morning till night, And though they do mischief sometimes, which is wrong, They're so pretty, you cannot be cross with them long.--Nursery Rhyme

On Wednesday, September 11, my friend called and said she had trapped the “last” kitten.  He looked like Simba.  At first I thought he was bigger and may not have been from that same litter.  But, when I got him into a crate, he was the same size as Simba.  Like the others we had caught, he hissed and growled, but we were able to pet and hold him.  Amazing.  We called him “Brandy”. 

Brandy, you're a fine boy!

Brandy was a very sweet cat.  He was very much like his brother, Simba.  When you picked him up, he just curled up and went limp.  He purred and loved to be petted.  He was very special. But,  he was not the “last” kitten, after all.

On September 14 my friend trapped a mama cat and her orange tabby kitten.  The mama was a tortie like “Mama Jackson”.  But, Mama Jackson had been spayed and her right ear tip was clipped.  We thought this cat might possibly be Mama Jackson’s sister.  My friend had seen this small, orange tabby kitten, and also a small black kitten with this cat before.  The kitten was possibly 2-1/2 months old.  The mama cat’s ear didn’t seem to be clipped, but it was at night when she was trapped so we couldn't see that well.  The kitten was definitely her kitten though.  She was very protective of him and he was comfort-nursing.  We kept them together in the crate for the night.

Mama Jackson with her baby, Mikey (Leo)

The next morning I checked on the mama and kitten.  In the daylight I thought I saw a clipped ear on mama.  Yes, her right ear tip was clipped.  This was “Mama Jackson”, not a new cat!  I was somewhat relieved.

We separated Mama Jackson from her baby.  He was very afraid, but did not bite or scratch.  We called him “Mikey”.  We put “Mama Jackson” in a kennel.  She watched as we took Mikey from the crate and settled him in a bed in a 4x4 kennel.   She did not seem to be distressed that we had her kitten.  We took her to my friend's house to release outside again.  Like the first time we released her, she ran from the kennel and was gone.

My friend told me that she knew there was another black kitten to be caught: Mikey’s brother.  He had to be that real “last” kitten!  But, just how many more "last" kittens could there be?  Mama Jackson was spayed and she could not have more.  Mikey and the elusive black kitten just had to be her last litter out of three that we knew of.

On September 16 Brandy had an appointment to be neutered.  It was complicated because only one of his testicles had dropped.  The vet had to do an incision to complete the surgery.  Brandy seemed fine the first day, but then the next day we noticed that something didn’t look right about the incision and Brandy didn’t seem to feel well.  We took him for a recheck with the vet.  One of his sutures was out and he had a fever of 104 degrees.  The remaining sutures were holding, so he was sent home to take antibiotics.  He was not a happy camper, having to wear a cone to keep him from doing any more damage. 

We’d only had Mikey four days when my friend found a home for him.  He went to his new home on September 18.   His name is now “Leo” and the updates are good.  His new family just loves him and he is going to be a good pet for them.

Buffy and Brandy

In the meantime, Brandy was taking his antibiotics and would go back to the vet in a week to get his sutures out and have his temperature checked.  Hopefully he would feel better and we’d be able to find him a good home.  Someone would be very lucky to have such a sweet cat.  Buffy, the patio ambassador, comforted Brandy in his discomfort.  We’re sure Buffy was sent to us to keep things calm on the catio.

To be continued.....

My middle name is Devil,
Tazzy D _^..^_