Snatch and Grab

Early this Saturday morning with the temperature at exactly 0 degrees, we decided it was time to take drastic action to rescue the kitty. Nick attempted to coax the kitten to the door, but once again it would come close then run away. Later this morning, at the exact same moment, it occurred to both Nick and me that perhaps we could open the living room window while kitty was on the ledge and looking in and pull him in to the house. The funny thing is, I was in the kitchen suggesting this while Nick was in the living room actually implementing the plan (we often have the same thought at the same time--scary). Nick unlatched and opened the window and grabbed the kitten before it realized what was happening. I heard Nick calling "come here, come here" and I came running as fast as I could which wasn't very fast since I was wearing footies which don't have a lot of traction on a slippery kitchen floor. He had kitty, who was protesting rather loudly, in hand and our other two cats circling around trying to see what they could do to help. You know, chaos. I happily took kitty from Nick and held him close and within a minute kitty was purring and acting quite pleased with himself for allowing us to catch him. (Yes, we have confirmed the cat is a boy.) At first the cat would cry every few seconds and our cat Gracie Jane would answer. So I sat down on the steps to allow them a look at each other and Gracie licked the kitten on the head. It was so sweet and the gesture seemed to make our little stray feel safe and welcome.

After only a few hours inside it is hard to believe this is the same kitten that hid from us under the shrubs for days. He is one of the most cuddly and affectionate kittens I have ever met. The girls both came over today and did their part to help spoil the new baby.

Until we can get him checked out by a vet we are keeping him away from Gracie Jane and Ralph, but we will still give him a lot of one-on-one time. Enjoy these pictures of the new baby. If we can find him a good home that would be great, but keeping him is sounding more and more like a good idea, too. I guess we have to get serious about giving him a name because it doesn't seem right to keep calling him shrub kitty! We are so glad the snatch and grab technique worked and the kitten is safe and warm at last.