Introductions 2: The Rug

This is the Rug, aka, Will.

I got this cuddly kitten the summer of 2009 from Vernal, along with his white sister, for my grandparents to have. After months of different names my Grandpa decided on dead ancestral names. The girl is Nezzy (after whom?) and Will is either from Willard or Wilford, not sure which, but I'm pretty sure he's a dead great, great, great uncle or something. Will can be a bit of a trying cat. He loves to lick which may not be so bad except he has a much rougher tongue than any other house cat I know. He loves to cuddle and purr and rub faces which would also be cute except when it's between 4 and 6 in the morning. He also has an obsession with lying on things. Any thing that is on the floor-like my books, or newspapers, or boxes, or laundry baskets. Mr. Will is still under two years old, so he has a bit of the pesty kitten still in him. For instance, he chews (doesn't eat) on my Majesty Palm. He also likes to sleep in roads, which leads me to how I got him (or he got me).

One morning Grandma came out to find Will sitting pitifully on the driveway unable to move meowing his most verbose meow. After taking him to the vet he was discovered to have a broken pelvis and would require 6 weeks of attentive care. Grandma didn't think she was up to that so I took him, put him in a crate in our spare bedroom, and began to wonder if he'd live. Casey, my husband, was gone for the summer when I received him so it was up to me (and a ton of help from Emilie, my sister) to rehabilitate him. This included holding him over the litter box when he couldn't support himself, shoving fluids down him, and holding handfuls of food in front of his mouth. We also discovered he had severely damaged his scapula resulting in a chunk of bone missing (we assume some of it might be floating around). For days he didn't go #2 and we though it might have damaged his intestines. I have a distant cousin up here who is a vet, and I pestered him for advice. He told us to give him time (that worked) and prescribed better medicines. Will was starting to show interest in moving around (Monster did not like this) when one night I was brushing him and chunks of hair started to fall out of just one place. He got this bald patch the size of my hand on his back/side. The skin peeled off and after discussing it I realized he had been hard enough the blood vessels that supplied the skin had been damaged. This lead to tissue death and an even goofier looking cat.

While this is a horrible picture you can get an idea of his baldness. However, it's growing back. He's jumping again, and while has a slight limp, is back to his normal needy self. After a while of running around chasing and jumping on Monster he'll limp a little more, lay down, and pant. I love the panting.

 And while I know this to be way too long of a post about a cat, you need to know that my kitties are my children (for now). They constantly entertain and comfort me in their funny little ways.