I must have been a cat in a former life. While I love all animals, cats happen to be my favorite. I've often told my husband, "When I die, I'm coming back as a cat." To which he always replies, "You mean, you're coming back as one of
your cats!" The footnote there being, my cats are royally spoiled. It's true.
Gizmo is the latest addition to our household. She's our "rescue kitty." I tell people we found her, but that's not really true, she found us, the lucky little thing! This is her story.
February, 2010, Rob and I were wintering in Florida in our RV at Sun Lake RV park in Ruskin, Florida. It's a small, but very nice campground with just 48 sites.
https://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=27.705776+-82.393867
Just off I75 and E. College Ave. which is a main drag for shopping and restaurants, the area near the campground tends to be a dumping ground for unwanted cats, according to the owners.
February of 2010 was a cold winter, even in Florida. One evening, I was in the camper, on the phone with my Mom, and I could hear a cat crying (even though all the windows and the door were closed to keep the cold out). Of course, I had to hang up the phone and go investigate. It was pitch dark out and I couldn't see anything, but made those little kissy..kissy noises you do when calling animals to you and over runs this tiny little Calico kitten. One minute there was nothing, the next, she's practically standing on my feet. So, I picked her up and brought her into the RV.
The as yet, unnamed, unclaimed kitten was no bigger than the palm of my hand. I hadn't gotten a good look at her yet, but Rob immediately asked "what's wrong with her head?" I took a look and sure enough, she looked like a little mutant with her forehead swelled out over her eyes, kind of like Frankenstein. I wish I had taken a picture of her back then, but didn't think of it at the time. She was also invested with fleas and emaciated.
Feeling sorry for her, we found a little canned chicken to slowly feed her and gave her some water. Then I went off to the Winn Dixie to pick up some cat food and cat litter expecting she'd be with us a least a day or so. At the time, we were not thinking of keeping her because our older cat, Cleo, who was up in Vermont at the time, didn't get along with other cats. So, our plan was to take the little wanderer off to a nearby shelter.
Our unnamed guest, spent the night sleeping with me. She curled up on my left shoulder and slept the night through. While I wasn't keen about the flea situation, she seemed to need the TLC. The next day, we took her to the shelter, but because of her swelled head, they wouldn't take her. Next stop was to a nearby Vet in Sun City. They did a couple of x-rays. They thought, she was about 10 weeks old and maybe she had a birth defect and that her skull hadn't fully formed - so here, we're thinking brain fluid is causing the swelling. Other then the flea situation and needing to be fed better, they didn't really see anything wrong with her. So, we had to make a decision, put her down, or take her home and see how she did. Neither of us, of course, could have her put down. One, she was just too cute, and two, she seemed like a fighter, having been out on her own for who knows how long in her short life. The Vet, telling us we were doing a good thing also gave us a break on the bill since we were rescuing the kitten.
So, we acquired another cat. We named her Gizmo because she reminded me of Gizmo in the movie Gremlins. She had that same type of coloring and with her swollen head, she looked a little like that movie creature. We gave her a good flea bath. Had she been out on her own for much longer with the fleas chomping on her, they probably would have sucked the poor little thing dry! So, bath and then lots of combing to get the little buggers off her.
The next day, she curled up in my lap while I worked all day from my computer. She definitely didn't have the energy or curiosity of a kitten. That night, she must have been scratching at a flea and opened a cut on her forehead. So, at 3 a.m. the pus is flowing out of her head. Rob is handing me tissue after tissue so I can mop it up before it gets in her eyes. About an hour later, we had it under control and went back to sleep. Later that day, we went back to the Vet with her. They gave her some antibiotics thought she'd be fine now, must have been some sort abscess.
Today, Gizmo is a rambunctious two and an half year old. She went form living in a small RV with us, to our almost 3,000 square foot Florida home. The high ceilings and large spaces initially freaked her out, but it only took a day or two for her to learn to love it.
Six weeks after we moved into the Florida home, we packed up the RV and headed back to Vermont for the summer. Gizmo was a great little traveler. She loved looking out the windows, walking along the dashboard and chasing the windshield wipers during the rain. Once back in Vermont, we picked up Cleo, our other cat that was staying with my folks for the winter. Thus began the great socialization project. Quite a few weeks of hissing and spitting between the two. We think, having to learn to deal with each in the RV made the process much shorter than it might otherwise have been because there are very few places to get away from one another in an RV.
The bottom line is, the two cats learned to get along. Gizmo is a bit too bouncy and full of energy for Cleo who is twelve and doesn't really like being pounced on. But the two of them live together peacefully for the most part. They hang out all over the house together, and sometimes Gizmo will be nice and give Cleo a kitty head wash.
Gizmo still has some funny traits from being a lost little kitty. Definitely still displays abandonment issues by crying when we leave the house, even if she can see us working in the yard. She doesn't like being alone. She has a fuzzy blue toy she will pick up in her mouth and carry around the house crying for us. She does that a lot at night after we've gone to bed. Even though she knows we're in the bedroom and eventually will come sleep with us. Any time she's lonely, she goes for that blue fuzzy.
All-in-all, a happy ending. Gizmo has a good home, Cleo has a pal of her own and we have another good cat.
