PanningForGold

Standing in the parking lot at the grocery store in Phillipsburg my wife announced that she was ready for a kitten (see Fate Or Circumstance, Part 1) and I rebutted that I wanted a dog. Who knew it was a magical parking lot? 

August of Nine years ago we were still trying to find a home for Husky when the Trouble began!

We were just about to take our exit off the highway when my wife yelled, KITTEN! I pointed the car to the shoulder of the road, hit the brakes then checked the rearview mirror. “Where is the kitten?” I asked as we got out of the car.

“Over in the bushes on the other side of the road”

 “sigh”

Just as home is always up hill, everything else seems to be on the other side of the highway.  Sure enough I looked at where she was pointing and there the kitten sat meowing bloody murder.  Our experience has been that when you approach cats on the side of the road they tend to turn and run, so the plan was simple, I would head around on the diagonal and try to loop around behind while my wife took the direct approach.  I went my way, my wife waited a beat and went her way.  The kitten had plans of its own and made a direct charge across the road into my wife’s arms and promptly bit her on the wrist.  If cats could talk this one would have been telling us. ‘What the hell took you so freakin’ long!’ We made sure none of his litter mates were hanging around and then headed home.

From day one the cat was trouble and was so named.  He didn’t get along well with others,  he was strong, he was ornery and he was not afraid to use his teeth and claws.  This one we were definitely adopting out.  When adopting out an animal our first priority of course is to find a good home.  There is no use placing an animal in an environment that isn’t better than the previous situation.  We were starting to realize Trouble was going to be a difficult case.  There is no doubt that he would take one bite out of somebody and he would find himself back on the wrong side of the door.  It made sense that this was how he first wound up on the side of the road.  We took him to our trusty vet Lee and there were no parasites, no worms, not a tick or flea to be found.  Somebody probably decided that he was just too much to handle and had recently dumped him.

Trouble was a pain in the ass, because of that he spent most of his nights locked in the bathroom, otherwise around two in the morning we would all pay the price.  The other ‘problem’ was he could charm the pants off the devil.  Didn’t matter how scared our arms and hands were from his scratching or how sleep deprived we were from his night time antics,  it didn’t matter how he would torment the other cats all he had to do was turn on his charm and your heart melted. 

At four months old Trouble weighed in at five pounds and to the relief of all our vet agreed to have him neutered.  Nine years later Trouble weighs in at 18 pounds of solid muscle.

I admit we didn’t look too hard to find Trouble a home.  First because of his disposition most sane people would have booted him out the door.  Second, Trouble just has that certain charm. While he has calmed down some he can still raise a little hell.  Not long ago we added Gumdrop (our latest cat) into the mix and for months Trouble would simply not let Gumdrop on the floor!

Obviously it all worked out and some might accuse me of anthropomorphism but I think Trouble appreciates the fact that we love him for who he is and on his terms.  Every night after my wife and I settle into bed Trouble runs up between us for his nightly hug and then heads to the foot of the bed where he sleeps curled up behind my knees.