Chocolate

Nefenjo says: We were visiting my grandparents in West Virginia for the 4th of July when we heard incessant meowing outside. My mom went to check it out, and I followed with our cameras. This stray kitty was nothing but "fleas and bones" as I like to put it. It took a while, but she gradually grew comfortable enough with us to let us touch her - and she discovered she liked it! My mom said that if she was still around when we left the next day, we would take her with us. We gave her some kitten food, water, a box, and a flea powder bath (which she did NOT appreciate!). She stayed around, so we took her home with us in the box. We kept her in the garage until we could de-flea her and get her to the vet to see if she had any contagious kitty diseases (we wouldn't want her to infect our own two cats!). A week after we met her, we got her in to the vet - she wasn't sick, but she only weighed 4 pounds (after a week of feeding her!), and the vet estimated she was 8-9 months old. With that diagnosis, she was allowed to move into the house - into my parents' room, that is. She had access to all the comforts of a bedroom, with a bathroom attached for food, water, and litter box. For the first month that we had her, she has gained some weight, but was still VERY skittish and spent most of the time under my parents bed. At first, she was too weak to jump onto the bed, and then she had no desire to. We have never seen her play - perhaps she didn't have the energy at first, but maybe she doesn't know how. Now, she is getting stronger and slightly less skittish when people enter or exit the room, and she even jumps on the bed to be petted at night (no other time, of course!). She is still staying in my parents room until she adjusts well to our other cats, and our rather large dog is a bit much for her. She is NOT a Siamese - the head shape is completely wrong. My mom and I are leaning towards Tonkinese, but she's probably not pure anything (Otherwise, why would she be a stray?). I hope you enjoy our sweet little Chocolate! Update 9/25/09: She is now 6.2 pounds and does enjoy playing. She also explores the house while the dog is outside. Update 8/20/10: She now weighs about 7.5-8 lbs, and she's starting to look a *little* bit pudgy. She now has complete reign of the house, and gets along fine with the dog and one of our other cats. Unfortunately, she and the other female cat still don't get along. She is my mom's little baby, and is still very skittish - she doesn't exactly run from me anymore, but she does watch me carefully when I walk by her, and she certainly doesn't come up to me for attention (unless my mom has been gone ALL day). Overall, she adapted quite well, and is also going outside again now.