Update: Catniss is alive and well and hate/loves me

I spent last Labor Day weekend rescuing an injured kitten, as some of you might remember.

 
Catniss was a semi-feral cat with a badly broken leg that had punctured through her skin! Poor baby. It took almost three days to successfully lure her from behind a fence into the alley where my neighbor and I -- at 5:30 a.m. -- were finally able to capture her and get her to a vet.

Dr. Storm at City Paws (soooooo dreamy and yes that is his real name) referred us to a surgeon because there was a good chance her leg could be saved. But it had become gangrenous and looked/smelled awful. Poor kitten!

The night before her surgery I gave her a bath and held her. We had some really sweet cuddles and I was beginning to feel like I wanted to adopt her.

After the surgery my neighbor kept her, since he is a cat person and I don't know the first thing about cats, plus Noli was beginning to feel really neglected.

Okay she was straight up P-Oed.

While I tended to Noli's feelings, Catniss got her operation.


After the surgery drugs wore off, she turned into the friskiest kitten I'd ever seen...but to be fair I haven't seen many, so this could be normal. It did seem weird that she was running around and jumping off and on things so much with a broken leg in a splint though. We thought maybe her pain meds were too good, but we realized she's just really scrappy when we stopped giving them to her and she just got more hyper. So we had to make it a little tougher for her to get around.

Her surgeon gave her University of Florida colors which I found to be highly annoying.

A couple of weeks later, as we tried to figure out what we were going to do with her, it became clear that my neighbor would keep her. One of his cats had died a couple of weeks before we found Catniss, and despite how inconvenient and expensive the whole ordeal had been, we had both fallen in love with her, but him even more than me I think. I mean really, did we think that wouldn't happen?

Noli rejoiced.

It took several weeks, but finally the pins came out, and Catniss was free to be a normal kitten. I visited a couple of times, but she seemed shy, so I didn't push it. Then this week my neighbor asked me to cat-sit while he was traveling, and I thought Catniss and I would finally re-bond. Surely she hadn't forgotten those three days I spent in a dirty alley trying to save her? Surely she remembered how I held her and bathed her and gave her kisses while she lay in pain before and after her surgery? Surely she thought I was her mother like Noli does. Right?

 But she was unsure. I just thought maybe she'd forgotten me.

Because every time I've gotten close enough to take a picture, she's gotten all hunched like this.

And then she actually hissed at me! WHAT THE HECK?!

Until...I cleaned her litterbox. Then she came into the bathroom and rubbed her body all over the door jam, purring and stretching and just loving the fact that I was scooping her poop.

So. I'm pretty sure she knows who I am, and I have a feeling this is how cats let people know they love them.

In conclusion, Catniss is completely domesticated now and her leg is fantastic and she's actually quite beautiful, I have to say. This is HUGELY due to my wonderful readers who donated in support of the rescue effort!!! I was absolutely blown away by how much money y'all gave to save this little alley cat. I think I speak for Catniss when I say *HISS* *PURR* *FURBALL*

*meow*