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Cat of the Month—Freddy

March 1st, 2009

A couple years ago a young mama cat and her two kittens showed up in our barn and I started leaving food for them. They were all extremely shy, but I felt in time I’d be able to win their trust. But one day the little family was gone. Two weeks later, the two kittens came back, alone. Where they had gone, and how they found their way back, I’ll never know.

When I brought them food, I could see one of the kittens had an injured lower jaw. It was so infected, the flesh had rotted through the bottom of his mouth. I managed to catch the kittens and took them to the vet. She held the little kitten in her hand and said “Hhmmm….” in a resigned tone of voice, looking in his mouth. He purred the whole time. “Well,” she said, “I can put him to sleep right now, or we can do surgery and he still might not make it, and it may cost hundreds of dollars.” Turned out his lower jaw was crushed into tiny pieces and was terribly infected, probably due to a bite from a raccoon or possum.

I looked at the little orange and white kitten who was purring his heart out and trusting us to take care of him. “Do the surgery.” I said. They cleaned him up, and wired the little bits of bone together, not sure if any were viable. The little guy was so small they couldn’t find surgical pins tiny enough, so they fashioned something together out of needles. Now that tiny kitten is an eleven pound cat—his jaw healed solid and attached, though it is shorter than the upper jaw.

I named the kittens Fred (now more often called Freddy) and Ginger—while they were small they were inseparable, now they are more independent. More on Ginger next month. (Can you believe some people have no idea who Fred and Ginger were—even if I elaborate and say “You know, Fred Astair and Ginger Rogers!”). Freddy is a sociable cat and has shown an unusual tenderness towards any cat that is ill. Lately Rosie was sick with a bad cold and Freddy got in the cat bed with her and curled himself around her. When she got better, he went back to his old perch on the top shelf of the linen cabinet.

Entry Filed under: Cat of the Month