crazy pet life

Well, work these days is crazy and annoying and makes me wish I had my degree already. But, such is life. I think that all of this ridiculous nonsense that goes on at my place of employment is trying to teach me something. Either to be stronger, or to appreciate things when they don't suck so much. Not really sure. Either way, eight-hour days are hell, and all I want to do is come home and hang with the critters.

Speaking of the critters. My crazy house is officially one member fuller. I answered an ad on craigslist last week - someone saying that found a baby kitten, who seemed to need medical attention which they could not afford. Since I have at least one friend who knows oodles about animals, I said I would come pick her up and have her checked out. When I arrived, I was shocked. This kitten could easily fit in my hand, and all she did was cry and mew. It turns out that the reason she wasn't walking (aside from being a bit too tiny to be taking many steps) was that she had to go to the bathroom. In the past week, I have learned how to make a kitten go to the bathroom (since she was too young to relieve herself on her own), and have learned the best way (out of the three ways I tried) to bottle-feed a sweet baby kitten. I estimate the Little Lady (her affectionate nickname) to be about four weeks old at this point. Last Monday, she could take one step at a time, hobbled a lot, could eat/drink about one and a half teaspoons of formula at a time, and needed to be forced to relieve herself. Today, she can take numerous steps (I lost count at about thirty, and realized she can get wherever she needs to go), she can climb up my pant leg, has learned to relieve herself on her own, responds to her name, actively tries to play with the dogs, and I'm fairly certain that she thinks that either Madden or I is her mother.

This brings my number to six. Well, eight if you count Chloe and Marley, my two goldfish.

Karly (my first cat) and Champ (the newest dog to join the family a few months ago) are about five. Patches (the dog who joined my family in January) is three. Kenzie (the kitten who a friend found abandoned) will turn two later this summer. Madden (my psycho hyper puppy) will turn one in three weeks. And now Bella (pronounced bay-uh, which is the Spanish pronunciation - I also speak to her in Spanish) is about four weeks. My home is crazy and hectic and always covered in fur. And I absolutely love every second of it. It is time now for the dogs and Bella and I to turn in. Until she gets bigger (and until the other two cats accept her), the Little Lady will be sleeping in my room. The dogs love her - though they're a bit unsure what to make of her sometimes. She absolutely believes that she is a dog, since she has little to no interaction with the cats, who basically have shunned her. Ah well. Just what I need - a kitten who thinks she is a puppy.