The Baby Boswick - the first 24 hours

 I've been meaning to document this basically since we decided to keep him so... here goes. 

We'd gone to see friends and share a couple of interesting backyard beers for her birthday.  These are lovely close by friends -- ones who keep our spare keys and do us the great favor of popping in to make sure the ladies are fed when we're gone for more than 2 nights. Both Widge and Pye have done an excellent job of being Very Friendly (tm). 

It was late when we came home, that last Sunday in September, and dark. As we turned down the alley by our building we heard the saddest meowing from the other end. Here was a very sad cat! A few steps more and we realized that no, this was a very sad kitten. The kitten ducked into the front shrubbery outside the Chateau and the Philosopher went upstairs to drop off things he was carrying and retrieve cat treats. I, being apparently entirely unworried about my clothes, crawled under one the bushes and used the flashlight on my phone to spot the baby. They were very very small but weren't dashing off! This was a good thing, the kitten was all black and if it ran, I was not going to find it again. 

The Philosopher came back and started playing caps with the cat treats -- and the kitten immediately dashed to gobble them up. Okay, so hungry. Philosopher went back up the stairs for a can of wet food; I'm still under the shrubs, belly down.  Pretty sure a few people walked by with dogs or headed home but no one stopped. Probably better that way. 

Cat food retrieved and the  Philosopher went back to tossing cat treats. I popped open the can of cat food. The kitten instantly came running towards me. This was a kitten who wasn't very afraid of humans and who clearly knew that sound meant food. I scooped some food onto the ground -- worried about sharp edges and the kitten dove in -- now only about 18 inches away. Spitting dirt and gobbling food. The Philosopher went back up the stairs in search of the carrier. Now we set the full can down and the kitten went nose first in. We let them eat for a minute and since he couldn't find the carrier, he'd brought a towel. 

Much to great distress and not some small amount of bleeding on my part, I grabbed the kitten. We successfully purritoed into the towel, at which point the kitten began to settle a bit. We brought it upstairs and into our smaller bathroom. (Along with the cat food, more cat food, and some water). Kitten -- now succesfully identified as a baby boy kitten -- snarfed down an entire can, then water, and then he just melted into us. 

He was incredibly social and wanted to sit on us and purr and be loved on. Another can of cat food disappeared pretty much instantly along with some dry chow. He was obviously not a tiny baby, those were starting to be adult teeth -- so I guessed about six months. And he was empty. Rail thin and clearly hadn't eaten for a while. 

Eventually we left him in the bathroom with a towel in a box to sleep on, more dry food and water, and a hastily mocked up litter box that we'd hope he'd use. (Yes, a bit of dirty litter included from the ladies so he knew that's what it was for -- learned that lesson with Pyewacket). It was a night of a lot of sadness and meowing. He clearly objected to being left alone trapped in a small space, now that he was convinced *we* weren't planning on eating him. 

The next morning I called our excellent veterinarian at Bramer Animal Hospital. They've been amazing and our vet in particular is such a kind man. We knew at a minimum we needed a FEV/FLV test and a microchip scan. Unfortunately, like all vets around here, they are booked absolutely solid. But they'd do the microchip scan. So after LBK (little black kitten) had had breakfast (he peed! yay!) we were off to do that. 

There wasn't a microchip. I hadn't really expected one. He was alone, very very hungry, definitely not fixed. Instantly the vet tech asked "are you keeping him?" which, I mean at that point we had just learned that he didn't have a home and we weren't sure of that even. Give me a second. 

I came home and in between meetings and emails posted to FB and Nextdoor. Only my descriptions had to be purposely vague. It was Halloween season and here I was with an unneutered all black male cat with orange eyes. But no one responded with a description or to say yes it was their baby who'd slipped out the door. 

That afternoon - having confirmed with all the vets in the area - I headed over to the emergency vet. They'd agreed to do the FLV/FEV test but warned me that I, with my probably healthy kitten, was their lowest priority. That's fine, I had an external P&T review to do and I had all my printouts. I can write notes on someone's academic performance in a waiting room. Thankfully they roomed us pretty quickly -- LBK shaking tremulously in the located cat carrier -- and I spread out my papers. 

The tech came in to retrieve him, just a test? That's all? Yup, that's it for now. And off he went. Nearly an hour went by, though they had said it should just be 15-20 minutes. Another tech popped in, there had been an emergency dog with seizures. They were just getting to LBK now. I looked up from all my paperwork, now spread in a full half circle around me. I was fine, no rush. 

Did I mention this kitten is about 75% tail? They brought him back with the offer that uh, so if he didn't have a home, one of their techs might be interested. Do let them know. Small charmer indeed was FLV/FEV negative. 

And now I had to head home and figure out what came next. Did we call our friend who volunteers at shelters? Neither of us wanted him to go to a shelter. We made a list of friends who had cats, but most either already had their quota or were definitely not looking to add right now. Did we really want a third cat? (The Cat Thread and a couple people offline that I'd sent pictures to were already suggesting names.) 

And that was Day 1 of finding a kitten in my alley.