Meet the Cats: Lenny, a feral kitten, learned everything from humans

Lenny, a gray and white tabby, will be celebrating his fifth Gotcha birthday next month.

We we join Kitty Blue’s The Cat on My Head’s Sunday Selfie Blog Hop this week, Paws for Reflection wanted to start showcasing our feline family. We realized to our chagrin that we don’t have our cats included on our About Page, and as they are the centerpiece of so much of our information, we need to change that. Today, we talk about the newest addition to the Paws family – Lenny. We invite you go hopping this Sunday, and meet some absolutely pawsome pet people.

Most kittens learn from their Mama cat

While most kittens learn from their Mama cat, Lenny didn’t know his Mama. He met her and his Dad once but they paid little attention to him. They have moved on as he had become separated from them, and he really hadn’t been a part of their cat family. If Mama cat becomes separated from her babies and a foreign human gets involved, they can choose to abandon the kittens. That’s what happened with Lenny.

Rescued from a brush pile that was about to be burned, Lenny, initially thought to be a Lilly, was the only surviving kitten of a litter of four. The three others had drowned from the spring rains. Luckily Lenny scaled his way to the top half of the brush pile and survived.

Paws had connected with a neighbor, Kimberly, who wanted help trapping his parents for TNR (Trap, Neuter and Release). We have enlisted the help of Friends of Feral Felines in Southern Maine. However, Faith – she had named the two cats who resided underneath her deck – had become pregnant. We had to wait for the kittens to be born, and then, we would try to trap the parents.

Lenny was the only surviving kitten

One day, in a panic, Kimberly contacted me about the brush pile. She was convinced that’s where the kittens were. Paws said we would ask our neighbors to hold off burning it until the kittens could be rescued. It turns out they were horrified to think they might burn a pile of brush with kittens in it.

Kimberly and her daughter went to the rescue and pulled apart the pile. They found Lenny, who didn’t even have his eyes open, crying. He was cold, hungry and scared.

A miraculous kitten

Paws just had to go see this miraculous kitten. After all, it was a miracle he’d survived. As she was bottle feeding the kitten, Paws made a point to visit weekly. He made a terrific photo shoot, and today, we share some of those photos. As we continue with our series of Meet the Cats in the Paws household, we’ll be sharing many of those photos, which also can be seen in our Grand Gallery.

He grew like a weed. She bottle fed him for a few weeks. He developed an eye infection, and she used tea bags. She taught him to use a litter box. He started eating wet kitten food. He had tons of love and affection, even though they had a resident older cat. As I kept returning every week, we decided, it was best that the kitten become a permanent member of the Paws household.

Once he was two pounds and eight-weeks-old, he could be spay/neutered. The adoption was complete. Lenny was fixed and never was subjected to the shelter. He went from Kimberly’s home to ours. He has provided endless hours of entertainment since then. He adjusted very well, and as a kitten, the other cats didn’t object to him. While Paws kept him crated in the carrier for a week while at work, when let out, he’d run and play with the other kitties. This little fella could wrestle with the best of them.

As Lenny was well-socialized, he was the cat that Paws would take into the nursing home as a therapy cat. He didn’t seem to mind.

Today, he’s a bit timid when strangers come into the house. He also had the most high-pitched voice, very unlike our other cats, who sound more catlike.

As he is rambunctious, he’s the one that sits in the screen and watches the birds from the inside. He continues to be a joy, and, with no health issues to date, we hope he can stay with the Paws family for years to come.

Leave your paw prints and comments

Do you have some favorite stories to tell about your cats, and how they came to share your life? Please weigh in on this discussion and share your stories with Paws’ for Reflection readers. Also be sure to go hopping and visit all these pawsome blogs participating in today’s Sunday Selfie Blog Hop kindly hosted by The Cat on My Head.