Settling in...

Hamilton seems to be settling right in here. The poor baby was covered with fleas when we found him, and consequently: flea bites. When I first held him I could feel a number of small, grody, little crusty-scabby things under his fur, but by the time he came home he just had one on his little forehead, and a few on his body. He was flaky and still pretty grimy when we brought him home--I was afraid he'd need an actual bath in the sink eventually, or a spray shampoo extravaganza to hold us over until we could bathe him (10 days after surgery).

Fortunately I found a Furminator kitten brush on clearance, and within 24 hours his fur was already much less flaky and dusty, and was even well on it's way to glossy. I mean, as glossy as a scruffy/shaggy kitty can be. Some of his fur is silvery, so maybe "shiny" is closer than "glossy." Either way, marked improvement. Today he's as soft and clean as any indoor kitty. Good job, Hamilton!

I am blown away by how friendly and affectionate he is. My second cat growing up was a feral kitten from a litter born under my grandparents' house (or barn, or in their wood pile, or one of the other various places their cat gave birth). And while she was an excellent hunter (thanks for keeping the roof rats away, Cleo) and devoted to me in her way, she was also aloof and skittish and strange with the rest of the family, and outright terrified of strangers, until she was well over 5 years old. I didn't know what to expect from an alley kitten wrested from the depths of a hot, dirty engine.

But Ham follows us around, and will try to climb into our laps while we work, unless we make him a little bed on a chair next to us. He snuggles and naps in my lap on the couch, and sleeps on the extra pillow above my head at night. Of course he's a kitten, so that also means he bites and scratches and climbs our legs and thinks it's the Most Fun Ever, but he'll grow out of that (eventually. Not soon enough.), and his sweetness and playfulness makes up for the lacerations and puncture wounds for the most part. Haha.

Seriously though, I can tell he's going to be an awesome cat. The vet says he's healthy, and he's getting all his shots, so he should be part of our family for a long time. Matt never wanted a cat, and I would never have chosen a kitten, but he chose us and turns out he's exactly what we needed in our little family. I know, enough mushy sappiness. <3 <3 <3