In fact, we brought him inside two weeks ago, just one day after the last blog post. The weather turned and started getting very cold at night, so there was no choice but to bring him in. It was just too cold outside. Mom called Aunt Lori (who fosters kittens and knows a lot about this kind of thing) and was able to ask all kinds of questions. There was no way he could be near our three cats, because he still had a couple fleas . . . though we had been combing him in the garage and gotten a lot off. He also was still in the middle of the de-worming process, so the big cats can't afford to catch that either.
Aunt Lori told Mom just how to bring him in and give a kitten flea bath. It was a cold and rainy day, so we had to be all ready to do it and get him warmed up right away. We had just finished cleaning out and rearranging the back room upstairs, which is great, because that room (with its walk-in closet and full bathroom) is half of the upstairs of the house --- and we can close it off with just one door from the rest of the house and the other cats. No problem. The big cat tree house is even up there, so we just got out some cat toys, made a few little beds around, turned the electric heaters on and closed the door. Putting a litter box and food bowls in the bathroom up there was easy, and everything was ready for Henry.
Poor little thing. He had no idea what was in store for him. I went outside, and he was so happy for me to pick him up and carry him inside. All of the other cats were safely closed in other rooms (sound asleep and totally unaware of the big change going on!), and I carried Henry right into the kitchen. Mom was all ready at the sink, and we started on the flea bath. Boy, were we shocked! He was crawling with fleas. We were doing everything and thought we did pretty well, but it took two baths to get most of them off . . . and we still couldn't get all of them. Henry dried out pretty quickly, though he sure didn't care for the sink much. A couple of days later, we put Revolution on him, and the fleas are totally gone. Worming has been harder, and it took Strongid and Droncit, but as of yesterday, Henry is worm-free. He's been to the vet and had the basic tests. He doesn't have any of the bad things that are so common in stray kittens. He was separated from his mother much too soon, so he is still having trouble adjusting to food. |
Henry likes to play. In fact, he almost needs another kitten to play with . . . but five cats in our house would just be too much. If he really needs to be with another kitten, after we've tried him in the whole house, then we might just need to find a different home for him. He's so cute, though! Toys are a big part of Henry's day, though the food bowl is his very favorite thing in the house! We had all kinds of cat toys already, but you have to buy a few more new ones. So, we went to the pet store and got some fun stuff. The all-time favorite is a stuffed mouse with blue pipe-cleaner ears and tail. We've named it "Mudge", in honor of the "Henry and Mudge" books. Henry really loves Mudge. He bites him. He licks him. He kicks him. That's true kitten affection. This is Mudge (at left), and the picture below shows Henry playing with him. |