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Bratsky's Brew

Guilty By A Claw

I really didn't formally get named. It just sort of happened. I would do such things as climb the curtains, an action I quickly learned you don't want to be caught at doing.

However, when one is in a hurry to escape the scene of that sort of crime, it doesn't help to have needle fine, needle sharp kitten claws that even when trimmed regularly, seem to be just as sharp the day after trimming as they are the day before trimming! I would hear our human Mom's approach, try to make my getaway, and sure enough just ONE of my claws would get trapped by the curtain.
Instead of being two rooms away from the scene of the crime as I had planned, I'd be stuck in the curtain, panicky because I couldn't get loose, and all I could do was brace myself for the trouble I knew I would be in for climbing curtains. Mom would scold me, "You Brat, you know better than that. Serves you right getting stuck. Maybe now you'll stay off the curtains."

Then seeing my actions already had more scary consequences than I was able to handle, Mom would gently free my trapped claw, look me in the eyes, say, "Now Bratsky you little brat, leave the curtains alone, LEAVE IT." Then she would set me down and I would run for cover.

Although I didn't know it at the time, with such incidents I was earning my name.

Blue Eyed Baby (Part 2:Sore Eyed Baby)

My new human mom was treating my eyes two to three times daily, I made it clear to her I felt good except for my eyes being sore, and I also made it equally clear to her I was sick of being cooped up in that crate. I wanted to come out and play with the other kitties, especially my big black new friend Buddha who seemed so strong and at the same time, so gentle and friendly at the same time.

Buddha was as good as his word. He stayed close by my crate most of the time until after I'd had my flea drops and my dewormer and had proven I was eating, drinking, urinating, and defecating normally. At this time my new human mom decided to release me even though I was still fighting the "plague" of the kitten herpes eye virus.

My new human mom went ahead and released me because my only problem was my sore eyes. Although often a kitten who has the eye herpes virus also has upper respiratory virus problems at the same time, my only problem was my sore eyes. I didn't have any respiratory symptoms at all. Mom wasn't that worried about my herpes virus causing contagion problems since at least 90% of all adult cats already have been exposed to the feline herpes virus, at least 85% are exposed to it in kittenhood. I was the only kitty who had sore eyes at the time.

As soon as I was released from the crate, Buddha became my friend, surrogate mother, and protector. Buddha took good care of me. He washed me just as well as my own kitty mother used to wash me and comfort me when I was a little baby kitten. Buddha let me cuddle with him all I wanted to, which helped me get used to my new home a lot faster. I knew Buddha wouldn't let anything hurt me.

My right eye cleared up early on. My left eye remained sore a long time though and for awhile the rim around my eye was sort of red and I didn't open my left eye as fully as my right eye and my human mom worried that the herpes virus might have damaged it. Thankfully, eventually the virus cleared up totally in my left eye too and I haven't had any more problem at all with sore eyes for a long time now. Even when Velcro and Buttons came (and Buttons had one of the worst cases of herpes virus eye problems including corneal ulcers, that Mom said she'd ever seen in a cat who had NO RESIDUAL SCARRING AFTERWARD.)

My human mom was hoping my eyes would stay that vivid blue color but as kitten eyes usually do, my eyes changed to a red-gold color that actually matches my red-orange color in my coat and is just as beautiful as the blue color my eyes were when I was little.

Now it was time for me to work on earning myself a name...

Blue-Eyed Baby

Right now the best title I could think of for my diary was Bratsky's Brew. This is the first time I ever tried to write anything in my life. My human mom says she will help me if I need it...if Splats will get out of her face half a minute so she can see what I'm doing!

I first met my new human Mom & came to my new forever home on 8-18-2010. The owner of my real mother worked in a store my future human mom goes into all the time & the two became friends. When my sisters & I were born, my kitty mom's owner told my future human mom that she needed to find homes for the kittens & that the male was an orange tabby & white with deep blue eyes. She told my future human mom that my littermates eyes weren't ever as blue as mine & that their eyes were already changing to yellowish green & that she thought my eyes might stay bright blue.

My future human mom had only one young cat at the time, Lacey. All the other cats were adults. She thought it might be good for Lacey to have a playmate closer to her own age so she agreed to stop by & look at the kittens & possibly take the male.

When my new human mom showed up to look at us, I was pretty sure she would take at least ONE of us because she brought a little kitty crate in the car with her. That told me she pretty much intended to take a kitty home with her. When she saw me, she said I had the most vividly blue eyes she'd ever seen on any cat that wasn't a point-color cat. She said my eyes might yet change color but that she hoped they would stay this beautiful vivid blue.

While my new human mom was there, she gave my kitty mother's owner information on area low cost spay-neuter clinics & gently tried to convince her to have my kitty mom & her other kitties all spayed or neutered. My kitty mom's owner said she didn't have time because of her work schedule. My new human mom even offered that if my kitty mom's owner would pay for it, my new human mom would take all the kitties to the low cost spay-neuter clinic & return them home after their surgeries. My kitty mom's human said she'd call my new human mom if she decided to have her kitties altered & that was the end of the subject. My kitty mom's human never called my new human mom about spaying or neutering, but they still remain acquaintances to this day though they rarely see each other coz my kitty mom's human got a different job in another town.

My new human mom also pointed out that us kittens all had herpes virus of the eyes & told my kitty mom's human how to gently clean our eyes. My new human mom said after she got me home & settled, she would come back & bring some eye ointment that my kitty mom's human could use for my littermates eyes. My new human mom then took some pictures of the cats & of me before she loaded me into the little crate. She then took me home.

When we got home, my new human mom settled me into a bigger crate with a litter pan, a soft towel for a bed, my food, and a dish of water. She rinsed out my eyes with a saline eye solution & put kitty eye ointment in my eyes. She also cleaned out my ears (no ear mites-hurray!), dewormed me, and gave me flea drops on my neck. She said I'd have to stay in the crate awhile. Then she took a couple of low cost spay-neuter clinics flyers & a tube of eye ointment back to my kitty mom's owner.

I was a little bit scared being alone for the first time, but this great big black cat named Buddha kept sniffing & checking me out through the front of my crate. He told me calm down, don't be scared, our human is good to us, you will get out of the crate after your wormer & flea drops have had a chance to work, after you show mom you're eating & drinking good & have normal urine & stools, & after your eyes are better. He said he would stay nearby my crate as much as he could until mom let me out & he was as good as his word. He stayed by my crate purring which helped me a lot in getting used to my new home.

to be continued.....