Precious Mittens

Mitty, Mittonian, TM but official Mittens. What a precious baby. When I discovered the kittens this summer, late July, Hannah and Mom were in Canada. I would go out to the barn every chance I got and lock myself in the stall to try to get a glimpse of them. I stuck my camera down the hole and took some pictures so I could see how many, how old, what colors and so on. After a couple of days of this I determined that they were old enough to try and handle them. I'm pretty sure Mittens was my first. He wasn't afraid at all. He stayed right out front so that I could swoop him up. I petted him and returned him quickly. I would take turns with each one. After about a week they were getting big enough to climb out of the hole. Their mama was not at all happy about this. She spent a lot of time scolding them. I blocked up the stall so that they couldn't escape. I went in with them every day and took their mama food. I would just sit there with my camera and watch them as they began to play. (See August 7 entry for his naming story.) Even though his name was perfect Hannah and I nicknamed him TM for Troublemaker! He was always on an adventure. He was the first to explore a new place and didn't seem to have the sense to be afraid of anything. One day when the kittens were a couple of months old and had full run of the barn, we were in the horse stall with one of the horses and we heard this loud growl. I was sure there was another dog in the barn. I glanced over just in time to see mittens with a mouse in his mouth running away from the other cats, growling a warning that it was his!!!! He took it to the corner of the barn where he continued to growl and scold even though everyone had backed off and were nowhere near him! It did not surprise us that Mitty was the mighty hunter of the group! Although when Caleb came around he would put his back up a couple of times. Well eventually Caleb and the kitties became friends and Mittens delighted in seeing him. Hannah and I even had to have a talk with him about staying away from Caleb when he was eating! One day when I was out there, he had the nerve to try and attack Caleb's tail!! I warned him against that sternly!! He always wanted to play and to cuddle. As a matter of fact he could rarely decide which one he actually wanted to do and would try to do them both at the same time. He would rub against you and then attack your finger or anything else that might have been moving in an unusual way! When I stayed at the farm this winter I was lucky enough to get some pictures of Caleb and him. Mittonian was usually the first one to greet you when you arrived. He was always happy to see you. He would even walk away from a pile of food just to be sure you weren't going to take off without giving him some attention.

Today was a bad day. Today the decision was made that tomorrow morning Mitty would have to be put to sleep due to injury to 3 of his paws. I took him home to my house and of course it has been an adventure all evening!! Before we got the cat litter set up he hopped up on the new blanket and pooped right on it. Then when we left him alone, he smashed himself between the window and the trunk and watched outside. Mitty will always love the outdoors! The next time I came back I was really worried b/c it was dead silent and I couldn't find him anywhere. He had smashed himself underneath my desk and didn't appear like he could get out. He would stick his nose under and his one good paw and reach out for me and meow. I got Scott to lift the desk so I could pull him out but after dinner he was back under. When we arrived home from the band concert with Hannah he was out in the middle of the floor demanding our attention. He was so happy to see Hannah. He knew it was her immediately and began his "rubbing" routine. After Hannah got to say her good-bye and left, I got my computer and laid on the floor next to him. He would lay next to me on the pillow and roll over bearing his tummy for me to rub. Then he kept sticking all four of his paws on me. His one good paw kept kneading my arm - only he would stick his claws out when he did it. He relaxed for awhile but would not take his eyes off of me. If I even moved for a second he was up rubbing against me. I stayed there with him for a couple of hours and when it was time for me to go to bed he was not too happy but I assured him I would be right next door. Tomorrow will not be easy but I know it is for the best. I do not want him to suffer or have anything less than a perfect life. I would say he had it pretty good. He had a lot of animals and people that loved him very much.