Meet Scout

Tyler works in a biology lab where they research the fertility of pigs and part of his job is to go to a pig farm three evenings a week to see which of the female pigs are in heat (glamorous, right?) Every once and a while I like to go with him to see the piglets. They are so darn cute. And pink.

Anyway, one night while we were there, I met a little friend. There are a few cats that they keep around the barn to catch the mice. As we were leaving I noticed a little gray ball curled up in a dark corner of the barn. A kitten! It was all alone and not moving. At first I was afraid it was dead, but as I came closer it began to open it's little eyes. It was tiny and shivering and none of the cats seemed to want anything to do with it. It was then I decided I wanted to foster this little guy. So my very nice husband let me take him home.

We stopped at the pet store and bought some cat milk formula... yep, they sell that. And wow, I was in love with this little guy. We knew we couldn't keep him permanently , but we figured we could nurse him back to health. Tyler's little brother had also been dying for a pet. Not too long ago he had found and taken care of a runaway cat for about three months and was crushed when they found the real owner. So we called Tyler's mom and proposed the idea of seeing how this kitten did and then giving it to Tyler's brother the next time we see them.

So here is a tribute to our little pet of three weeks, Scout. AKA Scouty, Scouterpants, Little Boy Cat (First named after Scout from "To Kill a Mockingbird" because we originally thought he was a girl. Turns out that at three to four weeks old, little boy parts don't show too well on kittens. Good thing we picked a pretty gender mutual name...)

Yes, he kind of looked like a little mouse. He was barely keeping his eyes open at this point. You could hold him in the palm of your hand.

Scout did NOT like being alone. The first night we put him in box (he quickly learned to climb out) and he just wasn't content unless we were by him. I turned around and saw him staring at us like this...

At first, all he did was sleep and eat. One of his favorite spots was in the soft green blanket (as long as you were sitting next to him). His other favorite spot... Curled up in between your shoulder and neck. Purring loudly. Man, I miss that little ball of fur.

For about the first week he really struggled in the walking department. He definitely waddled and I definitely loved it:

Little Scout provided us with hours of entertainment. Yes, we were totally lame. Worse than first-time parents I think.

He is now happily spending the rest of his days with Ty's family- enjoying all the playtime and attention he gets!