Sunshine On A Cloudy Day

Well we finally did it!! Just like elections in years past and more than likely the one coming up (I’ve switched back to McCain) the majority vote in our “Should Fred Get A Kitty?” poll was completely ignored. Since Sassy and BooBoo left us over a year ago, we’ve constantly found ourselves in a debate on if the time was right to bring another bundle of joy into the family…and as you’ve probably guessed by now the answer was no so we got a kitten instead.

Something just flipped a switch inside Lucy and she decided that this Mother’s Day a new kitten would fill every hearts desire. We started looking online, then scanned the pet stores, and finally settled on an itty-bitty kitty from our local shelter. Our trick to picking a pet is if you can give it a name in the first 10 seconds of seeing it and with storms raging all around, Lucy took one look at the gray girl in the corner of the cage and proclaimed her Sunshine!!! That’s right we got Sunshine On A Cloudy Day In The Month Of May.

According to the lady at the shelter somebody just dropped her off in a box one morning before they opened and she needed some attention. We took her to the vet last Friday and though she has a couple of minor health issues such as worms and an intestinal parasite, the Doc assured us that within weeks she be as good as new.

With any new addition to a family (especially one of the Blockhead variety) come a slew of changes. Because Buttons our 8 yr old long hair barely gets along with Fred and because Fred is one lean mean house wrecking machine, we decided the first thing we needed to do was give the kitty her own room. After all every girl needs her space. With a brand new litter box (cleaned twice a day of course), an open window to the backyard, and her own bed full of tiny mice, Sunshine lives in our bathroom….I know that last part sorta killed the mood, but in order for us to ensure Buttons wouldn’t eat her and just until the two get used to each other we have to keep them separated most of the time (mainly during the day while we are working to feed everybody).

Fred loves her of course though he keeps going all “Lenny And The Baby Bunny” on her and we have to watch how close he holds her. He’s even added her to his list of things he must do every morning before he leaves for school. Splash water all over the floor during bath, run around naked with a towel over his head, watch a short episode of Curious George, kiss mommy, ring the doorbell, say “I love you Sunshine”.

Buttons on the other hand has had a bit of bad luck. First off he loves to sit in the bathroom window, but since that’s Sunshine’s room he’s forced to spend his days elsewhere. Second though we are trying to give her kitty chow, Sunshine loves to eat his adult food. He’s paying her back for this though by switching to her food. So the adult cat is eating kitty chow and the kitty is eating cat chow. Last but certainly not least I sorta had all his hair shaved off….not on purpose mind you! We took him in to get all his shots caught up and nails trimmed so Sunshine would be less at harm and I sorta said, “I need the works. Nails trimmed, bath, shots, everything.” How was I to know that in the month of May in the very hot state of Alabama that “everything” to a vet meant shaving all your cats hair off. Lucy was convinced she had been given the wrong cat and then later tried to explain to the vet "My husband doesn't know you shave cats!!!"

Before I leave you with the before and after pictures of Buttons, I wanted to pass along a couple notes on the Freelance writing front. The Best Of Blog awards I’m still the Project Mgr for are into the final stages so go over and vote for your favorite blog and as of tomorrow I’m the new blogger for Petsource.org. I should start writing by the end of the week so check me out. It’s been a few months since my lost blog job ended and I was getting more than a little discouraged but it looks like I’m back in the saddle.