Bella first appeared on the property in the summer of 2009 as a half grown kitten. She was Deaf, and her right eye turned in towards her nose. She was so skinny you could see her spine and she was very apprehensive of my presence. I nick named her Booger due to a black mark on her nose that went from one nostrils to her upper lip.
I would see her in the gardens but often she would not see me. Several times I startled her as she could not hear my approaching feet. I would put food out for her and then set several feet away to try and get a good look at her while she nervously gobbled down food. She had worms on her backside, so I decided to lace her meal with meds. She ate the plate of food as usual but after that day she disappeared. I was mortified and wondered if I had over medicated her or if she had experienced a bad reaction to the medicine.Over the next several months I spent a great deal of time wondering if she was OK and having dreadful thoughts about what might have become of her.
I could not forget Booger and her pathetic state.
Apparently she did not forget me either. Several months later near Christmas time, she appeared once again at my back slider door. The wind was howling and it was very cold outside. When she saw me looking at her she bolted away in fright. A few days later she returned again and looked in the window. I decided to go to the shed and get an old trash barrel, turn it on its side, and leave out for her for shelter. I put food and water out. The next morning the scrawny little beaten down kitty was contently sleeping in the barrel on a soft warm blanket. I put food and water out but each time I opened the slider she would run away in fright.
She seemed content to have a decent place to sleep she could call her own. I worried about her being out in the cold, but she would not come in, even when with coaxed with treats. January rolled around and Booger seemed to have made herself at home in the old barrel. Eventually she stopped bolting away every time I opened the door, I knew she had begun to trust me.
One very cold January morning I was on my way to work and heard something on the radio that made me turn back to the house. It was a pet advisory stating that it was 7 below zero and to be sure your dogs feet did not get frost bit while out side. I was mortified at the thought of Booger having been out side all night in that kind of cold. As I drove home I prayed that I would not find her frozen to death in the barrel.
When I arrived home and went to the back slider Booger was laying in the barrel motionless. Her food I had put out the night before had not been touched and her water was frozen solid. I picked up the half asleep little kitty and she did not resist. It was the first time she had let me touch her, and somehow she knew I was there to help. I carried her to the basement and made a makeshift bed for her, gave her a little snuggle and left for work. I had concerns about my young chemo Kitty Shaman being in the house with her. I was not sure how he would be with her and I was also concerned that she may have brought in disease. I shut the basement door and went to work.
I called the vet and she met me at the house that afternoon. She looked over the frightened little kitty and found her to be malnourished but in remarkably good health all things considered. With one exception. She had the worse case of ear mites I have ever seen. We removed swab after swab of black goo from her bright red infected ears. Once again she did not resist and seemed to know we were there to help. Over the next few weeks Booger lived in the basement grooming herself almost on stop. Soon I noticed that Booger would be waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs when I arrived home. She was hearing my feet on the floor above! She was not deaf after all, just had ears full of mite and a terrible infection that cleared up with treatment.
Once I knew booger was healthy, I started leaving the basement door open and she would sneak up to have a look around when things were very quiet. Any movement or sound would send her scurrying back to the basement. One day while tip toeing stealthily through the house, she decided to come and lay at my feet. What happened next was a surprise I was not prepared for.
As I looked at her I realized that she had become very pretty and was filling out nicely. I decided she needed a name that was more fitting to who she had become from being in a loving home. "Bella,
I will call you Bella, because you are so pretty" I said to her. I admired her pretty little face and fur, I noticed her belly seemed to be rolling. I ask myself, did her belly just move? I put my hand on her thinking perhaps she was having tummy trouble. Under my hand I felt the unmistakable movement of kittens. She gave birth 3 days later.
Please return to -the read about what happened next and the positive impact one special kitten has had on my son Lewis. A slow kitten for a Down Syndrome guy to love.
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