Augusta

More pictures

I'd better wait by the VCR, cause someone will want to videotape a kitten who is as cute as me.

Augusta is an adorable, wild-born kitten who was caught (or allowed herself to be caught) young enough that she no longer recalls her wild ways.

On 3 August 2001 (hence the name August-a), after dinner, we went out to feed ferals. Heading across the parking lot, toward the wild kittens, we spotted a little ball of fluff sitting on a concrete block that used to be the base of a lamp post. It wasn't a kitten that we knew.

Looking closer, the kitten seemed to have a bad eye, and didn't run too far as we approached. Jan poured some kitten food there and we went to the back to feed the other kittens (and the raccoons). When we came back, the kitten was still eating -- ravenously. I climbed up near the "feeding spot" (and the kitten ran off under a bush).

Jan was talking to some people who lived in the complex and I waited to see whether the kitten would come back. She came closer and then came back to eat, and I started slowly creeping closer and closing the four foot gap that I'd left. Then Jan went off to find something to put the kitten in if we were lucky enough to catch it (no carrier in the car).

I got close enough to reach out and get my hand against the kitten's lower back only to have the effect be as if she had bounced off of my palm and back into the bushes.

But she came back.

The second contact wasn't as dramatic as the first. I don't even recall whether I scruffed her or simply scooped her up. Her one, and only, banshee wail of wildness was as she was first heading toward the tote bag (small world, huh?) that was the best thing we could come up with to hold her for the trip home.

Universal blood donor

Augusta was a mellow kitten from that point on, at least as much as kittens are. We set up a large (for her) carrier as a kitten apartment -- litter box, food/water dish and bed. The next morning (early the next morning), she was going to head for the vet.

After having dinner and a bunch of water, she weighed all of 15.5 ounces.

The overall diagnosis at the vet was that she was a generally healthy 5 week (maybe 6 week) kitten. She had the common list of upper respiratory infection (which may have just been a depressed system) and eye infection. Her crusty eye had opened wide when she was caught and never looked like a "bad eye" again.

However she was a major buffet for parasites. She had huge fleas in large numbers, tapeworms and cat lice. The cat lice made for some interesting (and frustrating) discussions for Jan. It seems that cat lice just aren't that common a problem. So several well felined people jumped in with "there's no such thing" responses. But a couple baths later, the blood suckers are all gone and the debate no longer matters to Augusta very much.

I am a chickenhawk, and you are a chicken

With the parasites gone and a steady supply of food, Augusta quickly regained the obscene energy level that one expects of a kitten. She also had the "everything in the mouth" approach that one would expect of a toddler. And she was sometimes very adamant about that. Jan started quoting the little chickenhawk character from the Foghorn Leghorn cartoons, the guy who was intent on hunting the critter 50 times his size.

She's already mellowed some on that. Since her jaw is pretty strong, we've been motivated to do a lot of "no biting" training. Otherwise she isn't as fun to handle. Once she gets the idea that "no" is supposed to communicate, she is pretty accommodating.

Split Personality

Her cutest physical attribute is her color pattern. While she has tabby stripes all over (at least so far), she is primarily orange on one side and brown/gray on the other. You can see that on her face in some of the pictures below, but it also carries over to her hind legs.