kitty update, and a bit of a rant

The kitty previously known around our house as "Little Dude," turned out, in the course of a visit to the vet today... to be Little Dudette. Yes, after 25 years of cat ownership, I am apparently still not reliably capable of sexing young cats. My one mitigating plea is that she was not cooperative about my attempt to check under her tail, and that she wiggles a lot whenever I tried. Ahem. Anyway. The really great news is, she's healthy, and she was apparently spayed at some point (which is good, because although the vet gave us a really wonderful steep discount for having rescued her, as soon as ninjascript told me "she's a girl," I thought "oh, crap, that's going to make getting her fixed a lot more expensive and please tell me she isn't pregnant, she's way too skinny and malnourished to be pregnant..." She's not. Everything's fine.

She did break her leg at some point, and it healed weird. I'd thought there was something funny about the way she stuck out one leg while she slept, but I've seen perfectly healthy cats with weirder sleeping habits, so I hadn't paid much attention. No harm done, she'll just a bit walk funny all her life.

The Boy also spoke with one of our neighbors while he was taking her out to the zip-car, and they recognized her and said they'd seen her around for a few weeks. A few weeks. In the parking lot of an apartment building right next to one of the busiest streets in Seattle. This poor cat has been starving and living in a dangerous area, and has been ignored for weeks by people who saw her, but apparently couldn't be assed to do a thing about it. Seriously? If you're afraid to deal with it on your own, call the Humane Society. They will send people out with humane traps to catch her, and they'll do their best to take care of her. I can't help thinking it's better than leaving her alone, hungry, and cold on a city street. I did not have a hard time catching this cat, all things considered. It took me maybe 15 minutes of quiet determination and patience. On some level, she wanted to be caught - she was desperate to be touched and petted. I can't believe people saw her and didn't do anything.

the case of the disappearing kitten

I'd forgotten the kinds of crazy disappearing acts kittens can do when they're scared.

See, I wanted to take a shower. Which required locking our boys in the office, and removing Little Dudette from her Safe Place in the bathtub. (...Side note: Our apartment's bathroom has almost zero ventilation, so we have to keep the door open while we shower if we don't want it to totally fog the tiny bathroom.) We thought if we moved her carrier (where she's been sleeping) with her in it, she'd probably be okay because she could always retreat to the carrier where she feels safe. Unfortunately, we did not do what I now realize would have been the sensible thing and put her in the bedroom and close the door behind her. Instead, we put her in the living room.

The living room, which is a total mess because we've been putting up shelves and things. Boxes everywhere, etc.

Apparently, I had no sooner gotten into the shower than ninjascript realized he didn't know where kitty had gone.

So now, missing kitty. I keep having this vague, uncomfortable sense that I've dreamed her and she was never here to begin with, except there's still a makeshift litter box in the bathroom, and there's a kitty carrier with a towel in it in the living room. I'm right now so freaked out that I just caught a moth moving out of the corner of my eye and jumped, thinking it was her. Understandable, as ninjascript pointed out - "she's about the size of a moth."

Updated: Found kitten behind drawer in bedside table. Took apart drawer to get her out. Returned her to her carrier/house in the bathroom. Let boys out. Going to bed. Hallelujah.