A Kitten Of My Own

I am sitting on the couch in the living room.  Sleeping right next to me is a kitten.  Her name is Camille, short for chameleon.  The people we adopted her from had been calling her Snow.  I decided to rename her because her previously white fur has been changing color.  She has a dark tail and dark ears, and blotches of light tan, more now than when we first met her a week ago. 

We were on a walk last week, and stopped to chat with neighbors ‘up the road a piece’.  A cat wandered by, and they told us they had 4 cats, plus a kitten they had cleaned up and nursed back to health.  They were looking for a good home for her.  I turned to my husband and said “I want a kitty.” (Not the first time I have said this, but it was the first time he responded that we could talk about it.)  14 years ago, when we got married, I felt it was quite unfair that he got to keep both his sons, and I had to give away my daughter.  My husband and both his sons were allergic to cats.  (As you have probably figured out, his sons are human, my daughter was feline.)  Both kids are primarily out of our home now, one in college, the other in grad school. 

Last week they said the kitten was about 4 months old, this week when we picked her up they said they got her about 4-5 weeks ago, and she was about a month old then.  It has been many years since I had a cat, so I am not very good at estimating her age.  During the week before we got her, I searched online, trying to figure out what kind of cat she is.  She has blue eyes (common for kittens, less common for adult cats).  As I said above, she is changing colors.  I just learned that Siamese and Persian cats are born white, and get their color as they grow, sometimes changing for up to 5 years.  Camille has short hair, does not have a typically Siamese face, but apparently she has some Siamese in her, hence the color changing.  I am going to take her to the vet this week, to make sure she is healthy, get her vaccines, and see if they can tell me how old she is, and if she, indeed, has Siamese in her. 

Back in May, when we were visiting our oldest son in Boston, I wrote about the benefits of owning a pet, or having access to a pet to play with.  Now I get to enjoy a pet of my own.  Camille took to our cabin quite readily, and also to us, rubbing herself against us, climbing on us, and purring.  She took longer to come out of hiding when we got to our apartment Monday night, likely because she was scared during the 1 ½ hour drive from the cabin to the apartment.  Once she came out of hiding, she explored for awhile, and then settled in. She will be travelling back and forth between our apartment and cabin.  I got the same litter box, food dishes, etc. for both homes, which should ease her transition back and forth.     

I am really enjoying having my own kitty.  Petting her is calming, and my pain fades into the background when she is snuggled next to me, purring.  Having someone dependent on you for their basic needs helps get the focus off of you.  It reminds you that your pain is not the center of the universe as it sometimes seems to be.  If you don’t have a pet of your own, consider getting one, or see if you can ‘borrow’ one on occasion to give you some ‘pet therapy’.  I think it is a purr-fect idea.