Ohiofarmgirl's Adventures in The Good Land is largely a fish out of water tale about how I eventually found my footing on a small farm in an Amish town. We are a mostly organic, somewhat self sufficient, sustainable farm in Ohio. There's action and adventure and I'll always tell you the truth about farming.


Friday, September 23, 2011

The New Kid

Under the category of "What's one more...."  Meet the new kid, this is Scruff!


Isn't she a pip? And yep, she's really that small. Just 7 pounds fully grown. The Good Vet thinks she's 8 months to a year old. And she's already had a litter of kittens. At this point I'd like to make a happy story about how we got her.

But the hard truth is that we got her because someone threw her away. In a dumpster.

We're pretty sure she was living in there - near where my husband works for about a month. He fished her out of the dumpster and brought her home about a week ago. Some folks said they saw some kids with her - trying to give her away. I guess they just left her there.

I'm not sure what kind of person - a parent no less - would send their kids out to "give that cat away." But I'm pretty sure its the same kind of people who threw a declawed, toothless, older cat out on a cold nite. That's how we got Teddi Gumpkins. Based on how starved she was we think Teddi was out on her own for at least a month.

I gotta tell you, there are some hard things in this world and there is a lot of cruelty. But we just don't understand how people can actually throw away their companion animals. Someone asked me, not in so many words, why we have all these cats. The reason is simple - because some threw them away.

We only ever went out and got 3 cats on purpose...but those were throw aways too.  My two old ladies were adopted from animal control...and we intentionally got Pepper. But she was from a throw away momma and was lucky enough to end up at our Vet's office. Aside from that - all of these cats found us. One from a parking lot, one from a corn field, and one was abandoned by her momma when mean dogs chased her off her nest...it goes on and on.  All of them have hard luck stories which ended  with "...and they lived happily ever after" because they came to be with us.

We never could find Scruff's kittens but we're pretty sure the people kept the kittens and threw her away. The day after she came home we took her to a local vet and had her tested for all the communicable cat diseases. She passed with flying colors - got her shots, and showed her thanks by pooping all me on the way home. Our Good Vet fixed her 4 days later and said all in all, she looked pretty good.

We're working on integrating her with The Insane Cat Posse - its slow going tho, she's really shy and I'm not sure she's been around cats before. But she's got a huge crush on The Big Man and is a good snuggler. My friend SD wrote a beautiful tribute about how guardian cat angels put Scruff somewhere that my husband could find her - someone was looking out for her, for sure.

And because we just can't get normal cats to show up around here.... here's a fun fact about little Scruff. She has an extra set of nipples. I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried. Of course, with our sense of humor we almost named her after her most interesting physical characteristic. - but we couldn't get over that one day I'd have to call the vet and tell them that they "really need to see our Nipples." You can't take us anywhere.

That's the word here. If you are brave enough - and have enough farm in you - go ahead and check out the late nite post from yesterday. But only look if you dare....there's chicken guts and everything.

Happy Friday everyone!


8 comments:

Robin said...

My cat Alvin was a throw away too. My daughter found him by a dumpster in a parking lot. He was just a kitten. He has brain damage, is almost blind but is a very smart cat.

Thanks for giving Scruff a good home! It looks like Nicholas will have a nice pal!

Carolyn said...

Oh come ON! You've GOT to name her Nipples! Nips for short at least!!

Bless you for taking in all those "throw away" cats. It just drives me insane when people just dump their unwanted pets. We get our share of that here as we live in the country down a dead end road.

YOU are the Kitty Guardian Angels!

Nips....Nips.....Nips!

Gingerbreadshouse7 said...

The new kid looks like a kitten I had many years ago I named "monkey" < don't know why it just fit :o)

Little Rooster Croft said...

yeah, people are mean. I don't get it...but that would be why I have so many cats too! All have their various stories. I worked at an inner city shelter for awhile (actually the first animal shelter in the country...Morris Animal Shelter opened by Elizabeth Morris who also helped start the SPCA, the first of which was in Philly - but I digress). While I worked at the shelter I got to a point that I didn't like people very much.

Autumn said...

Our cat, Drama Queen, weighs only about five pounds, and she's fully grown. DQ (as we all call her) was a cat that adopted us! She was a stray little kitten that my Dad felt bad for, and he brought her in, and stayed.

Mary Ann said...

This is how we got ALL our housepets... someone else's cast-offs... I can't tell you how many times my husband has looked at me and said "Can you believe someone let this little (insert dog/cat name) get away from them?" in shock and awe. We don't understand it either!

Ohiofarmgirl said...

Thanks Robin - I hope they all get along.

Isnt that hilarious, Carolyn! Good Ol' Nips - what a gal! We know that folks have hard times - but there is just an epidemic of un-fixed cats.

Ginny, some of these cats act like monkeys for sure.

LRC, I'm sure you have a ton of stories to tell. Wow!

Autumn - DQ is a great name and yeah once they are in.. they're in.

Mary Anny, we've scored some fabulous pets - we think we are the lucky ones.

deb harvey said...

hi. just found this site.
you could name her titi from tahiti. sounds glamorous but it is a hidden joke.
got a book once with a chapter [how to choose a cat]. what a ripsnorting laugh!!
they choose you usually by showing up on your porch with their tiny little hobo hankies on a stick.
we love ours but have to keep them in separate groups to avoid blood shed.
deb h.

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