Lynx

 

This is Lynx. He’s the newest, as you can see by his size. After Help, I wasn’t planning on getting any more animals for a while, but apparently life doesn’t care about my plans.

I was driving home from work one day when a rag comes rolling and tumbling out from under the minivan in front of me. Then I realized it was way too fuzzy to be a rag. “Oh shit!” my brain said, “That’s an animal!” and I slammed on my brakes. I thought the lady behind me was going to hit me (she didn’t), but I really didn’t care because at that moment I wasn’t thinking, just reacting. I hopped out of my car, luckily having enough presence of mind to put it in park first, and see this little kitten huddled against the curb. As I ran over to it, it darted away, which was a tremendous relief, because it couldn’t be that hurt if its moving that quickly. I caught up to the kitten and scooped it up, while it’s hissing and spitting and clawing at my hand. Because I refused to put it down it decided the best course of action was to clamp its little teeth around my finger and hold on for dear life.

I get back to the car, sit down, slide the kitten under my coat on my lap, and only then does it let go of my finger. I drive off, the blood dripping from my finger leaving a nice stain on my pants. I went straight to the nearest veterinary office, grabbing a shirt from the back seat to wrap around my finger (that’s why you should never clean out your car). I wrapped the kitten in the shirt so it wouldn’t bite me again and walked into the vet, just starting to come down from the adrenaline.

“How can I help you?”

“I just found this kitten in the middle of the road. What do I do?” I felt like a confused kid.

I ended up signing him over to the vet, because, like I said, we weren’t planning on any more animals for a while. While I was waiting for them to get everything set up and take down information I snapped a picture of him on my phone. Big mistake. I kept looking at that picture after I left, getting more and more attached.

When Kayla got home from work we went back over there to see how he was doing. They had given him a good once over, and he was miraculously uninjured. They had run some tests for different diseases which all came back negative. No fleas or ticks. Gave him dewormer. They had to hold him in quarantine for 10 days because he bit me. They wanted to make sure he didn’t end up having rabies or something. That 10 days was up on Saturday 5/20. They open at 8, and I was there at 8:30 (I was up late the night before).

He’s home now, adjusting well. He’s pretty fearless, and has no problem swatting at Reliant’s tail, despite the fact that he could fit in Reliant’s mouth no problem. He’s a bit standoffish with Foxy, but I think that’s because Foxy is standoffish with him. Samara thinks he’s the devil, and hisses and runs away whenever he gets too close, but that “too close” limit is already getting smaller only 24 hours after bringing him home. I think it’ll all work out.

Update (7/8/17): Lynx is growing like a little weed and fits right in at our house. He and Reliant are best friends and like to play. He also attacks Foxy’s tail and Samara’s entire being. Those two will let him mess around for a while and just walk away when they’re done, for the most part. Lynx also enjoys drinking from water glasses that squish his little face, sleeping between Seth and I on the bed, and trying to sneak outside when we let the dogs out. He’s kind of dumb, but he makes up for it with endless snuggles and love.

Update (1/3/19): Lynx is sixteen pounds! He is huge, literally twice Samara’s weight. He is a bigger cat in general, but he’s also got a rolly-poly kitty belly. This is due to his willingness to eat just about anything from anywhere, including stolen tortilla chips and dog food straight from the bowl. He is still a big snuggler, but he gets cranky if you squish him too much.