100 Word Challenge: Emotion

It’s been almost two weeks since my family took in five newborn kittens and their mother.

The three-week old kittens are getting bottle feedings every four hours, routine sink baths (kittens are a very messy lot), and cleaned of eye boogers semi-daily. I am inundated with the smell of pee and poop, being peed and pooped on, endless laundry, chapped hands from so much washing, razor cuts on same hands from rapier kitten nails (clipping squirmy kitten nails is a two-person job), and multiple vet visits.

The Mama Chaz had mastitis and couldn’t nurse, then had one mammary gland rupture while I had her at the vet. I cried. If her former owner had been there, I’d have junk punched him.

As a family we have sat down, each with a tiny kitten and a tiny bottle of formula, and fed the critters, We had an assembly line going for their first baths. We’ve worked together to administer medicine to the mama cat and dress her wounds. I could use a little more togetherness with laundry and changing soiled bedding, but hey, I’m the one home all day, I can’t save it for later… right?

It’s been quite the adventure. Faced with the same circumstances though, we would do it again. I can’t abide with a helpless animal suffering, especially if I can do something to keep that from happening.

Our goal is to find happy, safe homes for the kittens, and Chaz too if possible, but we’re prepared for her to join our Island of Misfit Toys.

This week, with Chaz pretty much healed from her ordeal, we began introducing her to our other pets. Hershey, the matriarch Lab, is totally unfazed. Asta, our younger, little Lab, is just nosy. As in, follows Chaz around trying to sniff her. Asta isn’t being aggressive, just curious.

Issy, our queen tabby, isn’t sure what to think about all of this. She’s poked her nose into the kittens’ crates, but that’s about all. Issy’s not quite sure what to do with Chaz. There hasn’t been any skirmishes, no bad behavior on Issy’s part, a few hisses, but nothing too worrisome.

I hope the two feline ladies will eventually get along, maybe even become friends. I’m just happy I’m not cleaning up fur and what-not from a cat fight.

At week four, we can introduce solid food to the kits. I’m trying an experiment with small dishes of formula to see if they will lap it. A litter box will be their next milestone. So much fun in store, I’m not sure I can take it all.

“A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.” ~ Ernest Hemingway

This week’s word is:

Emotion

Using “emotion” for inspiration, write 100 Words – 100 exactly – no more, no less. You can either use the word – or any form of the word – as one of your 100, or it can be implied. Include a link in your post back here, and add your story to the Mister Linky list. If you don’t have a blog, you can leave your submission in the comment section, or as a Facebook status post. Remember to keep spreading the love with supportive comments for your fellow wordsters.