Meet Missy!

There’s been many little critters to find their way through my apartment complex over the years. Some are just visiting animals from the surrounding housing subdivision, others are wildlife that live nearby. Even though we aren’t supposed to have pets, there are several tenants who have decided to adopt their own furry bundles of joy.

A couple of weeks ago, I became one of them. Meet Missy, my tuxedo kitten:

I wasn’t actually the one to bring her to the complex, that was my neighbors. But they didn’t give her much attention and ended up abandoning her when they had to move all the sudden to Texas. I asked about her and was told I could take her back or I could keep her, whatever. They didn’t know where they got her from so taking her back wasn’t feasible, nor was it really desireable. See, the kitty was so friendly to me and my boyfriend that I had fallen in love with her. I decided to keep her.

At first, she was going to be an outdoor cat. She ate fine outside although I suspected the other area critters were helping themselves to her food dish. She likes to climb up on the ledge above my flower pots like she did here:

As time went on, however, I started bringing her inside more and more. This because necessary this week as I decided to have her spayed. There are already enough unwanted kittens in this world, no need to make the problem worse. I knew she would have to stay inside for a few days after the surgery so I started keeping her inside at a gradually increasing rate. For one, I am still slightly afraid of getting in trouble with my landlord, but I also don’t really trust her yet to be alone in my apartment. You know the phrase, “curiosity killed the cat?” Well I’m finally learning how that is possible.

When I first considered adopting her, I thought I was crazy. After all, I’m broke and not really supposed to have pets. But I’ve been able to get most of what I have for her now donated. The biggest expense was getting her spayed and even that I was able to get at a discount because she was a rescue kitty. But other than that, I’ve had food, litter, a litter box, countless toys, catnip, a bed and her scratching post all donated. I’ve found cheap ways to get her food and litter, which will be the biggest expense.

She’s a good kitty, just curious about everything. It was actually pretty funny when she discovered herself in my full-length mirror. It was less funny when she kept pouncing at the “other” cat in the mirror and knocked it over:

Keeping her inside meant she had to relearn to use the litter box, which turned out to be no problem. It also meant she had to have a flea bath, which she really didn’t appreciate. John and I administered the dreaded cleansing. Here’s Missy and me afterwards:

Missy is a friendly kitty who seems to especially like John. Here they are shortly after I started calling her “our” kitty (no, the color coordination wasn’t planned):

I wish I had a good picture of her eyes but she’s learned right away that the camera coming out means bright light going off in her eyes so she usually turns around, which is actually pretty funny. Her eyes are gorgeous and even the vet technician commented on how unique they are. They are two different shades of green–in each eye. She has a dark green layer of iris around the pupil and a lighter layer on the outside of the first layer.

When my kitty isn’t pouncing on mirrors or learning to capture my hand by pouncing on it, she’s doing pretty much two activities:

and

It’s nice to have a furry friend around, I’m excited to see what she discovers next.