Along Came A Kitten

Jethro became a member of our family back in October 2007. He was a mere 6 days old and still had his eyes closed! He, and his five litter mates, had been abandoned near the criminal courts building where my husband works.

Due to his young age, I had to feed Jethro kitten formula. I found myself mixing up kitten formula every two hours for the first week! I’d never even made bottles for my kids, yet there I was making kitten bottles for the next five weeks.

The first picture here shows Jethro at about 7 days old. His eyes were just starting to open. He quickly learned to recognize me as his main food source. 🙂

For the first four weeks, I either “wore” Jethro inside my shirt, or kept him in a carrier with a warming pad. For that entire fall, I took him with me everywhere. He brought a lot of smiles to the folks at the nursing home where my great aunt lived. Jethro also liked visiting with my dad.

At the time Jethro wormed his way into my heart, my dad became very ill with complications from renal failure. In the last year of Dad’s life, Jethro brought a lot of cheer to his “grandpa.” The little guy liked to snuggle right up by my dad’s chin. The photo to the left shows my dad with Jethro (13 days old).

The little guy defied the odds and has turned into quite the handsome young cat.

My dad, Remo, passed away on September 3, 2008. He continued to enjoy Jethro’s catty company for that last year.