Mittens

Wow! Where to even begin?

The first time I saw this little furball. I thought, wow, my daughter would love to have this kitten. But at that time, she belonged to a friend of mine. It was the dead middle of winter when I had first seen this kitten. When I say dead middle of winter, I mean the temperature was in the negatives that winter.

This friend that had this cute kitten also had this huge dog. The cat was always trying to and play with the dog. It was the cutest thing ever, But the kitten was terrible too. She would climb up the curtains. She was clawing everything in her path. But she was only big enough to fit in the palm of your hand. This Black and White pinstriped kitten started to grow on me.

Every time I would go to my friend's house, I would have to find the kitten and pick it up and hold it. At that time, my daughter keeps asking me for another pet she could call her own. But I was not ready to have to feed another cat. I would have to start buying more food a month and more cat litter too. I keep telling her it was going to be too expensive to have another cat in the house.

But she would not listen. She keeps asking me for any animal. So I go over to my friend Sara's house one day and see the kitten was outside on the porch. It was so cold that day the air froze your nose hairs. If you were outside too long, you would have had frostbite. It was freezing. I felt terrible that my friend had thrown this little ass kitten outside in the dead middle of winter.

When I went into Sara's house, I asked her why the kitten was outside and not allowed to come in the house? My friend said because I'm sick of that kitten pissing all over my clean clothes and messing everything up in my house. I tried giving her some ideas of how to get the kitten to use the litter box. But she was not listening to anything I said.

First time litter time!

So I had left and gone to my friend Chrissy's house. While I was there, all I could think about was this poor little kitten in the cold. This kitten was a baby. She was maybe just old enough to be taken away from her mother and had to stay in the cold. Sara had the kitten and was not letting the kitten back in the house no matter what the weather was that night.

But while I was at my friend Chrissy's house, I could not stop thinking about this kitten being out in the cold. So I started asking her what I should do about this kitten being in the cold? She told me to go and pick it up and take it back to my house. I had to think about that for a long time. I mean, I did not want another cat to care for, and I know my daughter would help a little bit with this kitten. But she wouldn't be the one having to buy the food and cat litter for it. That would be me doing that.

After thinking about it, and a continuous conversation with Chrissy about it. I said, well, my daughter has been asking for a kitten. Against my better judgment, I went back to Sara's house and picked the cat up. I could not see this kitten die in the cold. I had already felt bad as it was. An I was not the one who threw the cat outside. But I did the right thing and went to get the kitten and take it back to my house.

This kitten was so mean. It would bite and claw everyone who would pick it up and try holding it. This kitten was skittish too. As soon as I had the kitten in the car with me, I put her in my oversized warm jacket. I wanted her to get warm. She had been outside all night and half the day. I just knew she had to have been cold. I was trying to be friendly and warm her up. But as soon as I put her into my coat, she started clawing at me. Thank God I only lived right around the corner.

I figured that it would take a long time for her to get used to my family, and after she was used to us, she would be nicer. I was hoping she would be a loving cat. It was going to be a pleasant surprise for both my kids when they got home from school. They were both in school at the time I brought the cat home.

With them both in school, I would have time to let my other cat get used to another cat in the house. They are both girls, so I figgered my older cat would treat this kitten-like it was her baby. But no, as soon as my cat Sugarbear smelled this kitten, she turned and walked away. It was the cutest thing because the kitten started running after Sugarbear, trying to play with her. But Sugarbear didn't want anything to do with this kitten.

I keep the kitten by me, trying to get her use to me. But all the kitten wanted to do was wander around and smell everything. I showed her where the litter box was and where to find the food and water bowls. As soon as the kitten smelled the food and water, she started eating as if she hadn't eaten in days.

Even though I had the kitten at my house now, I felt terrible she was ever outside in the cold. What kind of person throws a baby kitten out in the cold. I don't care what the kitten had done. It doesn't belong to be treated like trash and put out in the elements of mother nature. No animal deserves to be treated like that.

My daughter has spoken about being a veterinarian when she has grown up. My daughter is always saying how she will save all the animals she finds, and she will have a house full of cats. After seeing the stray animals around where we live, my daughter had come to this conclusion.

My daughter is always trying to bring every animal she sees back home. I am always telling her, no, we don't need any more animals at our house. I have to tell my daughter that it's hard enough to take care of the animals we have.

Now that I have brought this kitten home and is now a little over a year old, I have learned to love another cat. Even though she does not listen at all, I still love this cat. On her first day in this house, I told my daughter that I was not sure if we would keep the kitten or find it a better home. But after about a week in my house, I couldn't get rid of this kitten. My daughter had grown close to this kitten already. If I were to send it away to another house now, my daughter would never forgive me.

Now we've had mittens for a little over a year, and she is a part of our family. Mittens is my daughter's cat, and I have her take care of it at all times. My daughter gets mad that she has to clean up after her cat, but that's a part of life. I tell her that if she wants to keep this kitten, she has to clean up after it and take care of her. My daughter does good for the most part at taking care of her cat.

It's so cute because mittens sleep's in my daughter's room. Mittens fallow's my daughter everywhere through the house. When I first brought this kitten home, I had to have my daughter keep her in her room at night. Sugarbear didn't want anything to do with this kitten at all. Sugarbear was always hissing at her and trying to bite her. Those were Sugarbear's only defenses since she has been declawed.

I was hoping that both kittens would get along. So they could play together. It took a long time before they even tolerated each other. But they get along for the most part. When Mittens wants to play, and Sugarbear doesn't, Sugarbear will hiss at her and run away. But there is sometimes that Mittens will chase Sugarbear around even though she doesn't want to play at that time.

But we now have two cats in our home, and I believe that God gave me the idea to keep this kitten even though I didn't want to. My family is blessed to have this cat come into our lives. She can be funny at times and naughty all at the same time. But we all love her even when she is misbehaving.