Nova Burns Brightly

The Boyfriend and I are OUT OF OUR MINDS!

So last night, I'm minding my own business, leaving the house to go for a walk...and my neighbor calls me over to look at something. A tiny (TINY) black cat is under a concrete porch crying it's little eyes out. I grab it, and suggest I take it to the Humane Society.

The Boyfriend comes home and I show him my catch. He flops onto his back in the grass, rolling around with the little creature.

"We could keep it," says The Boyfriend.

"Or, we could take it to the Humane Society and some family with little kids will adopt him," I respond.

One trip to PetsSmart, and three hours later and the cat is ours. You see, once you name an animal, it's never leaving your house (except for occasional visits to the vet).

Nova: A star that suddenly becomes much brighter.

We throught Nova was a girl, and Nova was a name felt right to both of us. Plus, Luna, the old lady, is all white and named for the moon...Nova is all black and named for a star.

I snuggled our little star in a blanket inside our cat carrier and off to work we went. I took breaks for bottle feedings (I was fully prepared to defend the feedings since I have never in the history of my job taken a smoke break...I'll take feeding breaks while the other folks are downstairs slowly killing themselves). I spoke with a friend taht fosters kittens for the Humane Society, and she mentioned that they would probably put him down, mostly because he's so young and isn't attached to a mother/litter. That finalized our decision.

I wrangled an appointment at the Humane Society for a check-up, it's vital that we don't endanger our existing cats. As it turns out, Nova is a boy. Luckily, the name we chose is delightfully unisex. The vet says for his age (3 1/2 - 4 weeks), and having lived on the streets, he's extremely healthy. He is really young, but if we bottle feed him he may be fine.

So for the next two weeks, Nova needs to stay away from Luna, Jack and Tiger (I'd actually like to see him put on a little weight before we let the wolves loose on him). He's living in a box in the office with a towel and an impossibly soft bear from "A" at work.

The hard part will be socializing him with our other kitties. The vet said to have a well adjusted cat, we have to allow the other cats to teach him to be a cat...which includes introducing him to the "hierarchy" (ie, he's gettin' his little ass kicked). The vet warned against getting involved, explaining that as Nova bites and claws them, they will do it back, until he realizes what's appropriate and what's not...and he'll apply these guidelines to both cats and humans.

Scary. Sad. I guess not as sad as a little black kitten freezing to death under a porch.

More pictures to follow.