Pissed Off and Pissed On: Update on Life in Saline

Well, it's been a little over a month since The Great Upheaval deposited us here in Saline. It's been an interesting first month, to say the least.

New Neighbors
Our new upstairs neighbors moved in a month early, at the end of August. They're an interesting mix. She's an overly friendly six month pregnant former dog trainer; he's a redneck with the personality and IQ of a half-blind lobotomized ferret with Down's Syndrome. He also seems overly angry around people more intelligent than him, meaning if you're reading this without moving your lips he's probably already pissed off at you.

There's been some friction, most of which has been resolved. However, I'm of a mind to avoid contact with them unless absolutely necessary. I really don't need to deal with that level of stupid right now.

New Kitten, Come and Gone
Some of the friction from the new neighbors is due to a kitten. I don't blame the kitten; however, I do blame the neighbor's method of handling this situation.

In my last post I detailed how we had a kitten thrust upon us. Being the reasonably kind-hearted people we are, my wife and I took the kitten into the vet to be sure that it was okay. $155 and a flea/ear mite treatment later, the kitten was healthy and bounding around the apartment. At first we were seriously considering keeping her, as she was very sweet and even tempered.

But then the pissing started.

First, it was on some bubble wrap leftover from the move. Then, some fabric scraps. Then the bed, on my wife's side. Then on a bathroom rug. Then on my wife's side of the bed again. Mind you, we didn't find all of these areas until later. After the second pissing of the bed, we knew kitten needed to head for greener pisstur...er, pastures. With kitten howling all the way, I turned her over to the Humane Society. They, being similarly kind-hearted, took her in in a way that would allow for her to be put up for adoption immediately.

The pissing was a minor annoyance. The neighbor, however, was the major one. The kitten was foisted unto us because she "couldn't afford another mouth to feed." Then why did you take the kitten in the first place? Has that little parasite growing in your belly eaten away the common sense and logic centers of your brain? Why couldn't you have handled this rather than getting others to do your dirty work?

Meh. It's over; done. The situation was handled, but it doesn't make it any less annoying.

There's still quite a bit of fitting in to be done 'round these parts. It's slow going, but I'm hopeful that with a bit of luck and some high-octane booze it'll all work out.

Stupid Universe...

Wife: *thinking of another cat to keep Manny company*
Me: *also thinking of another cat to keep Manny company*
UNIVERSE: *rubbing galaxy-sized hands together and sneering*
UNIVERSE: "Muahahahahaha..."
Me & Wife: "WTF was that?!?"
UNIVERSE: "Abracabadger!!!!" *poof*
TinyBlackKitten: "mew?"

So yes. The Universe, in one of its stranger revolutions, has seen fit to hork up a kitten unto us. Violently, in fact; this particular kitten was sprung forth from a moving car.

Let me explain.

My wife and I arrived home from the Wheatland Music Festival Sunday evening, tired and fairly dirty; looking forward to nothing more than a hot shower and a relaxing evening before staring back to work/school on Monday. As we unpacked the cars, our upstairs neighbor rushed down her stairs.
"I am SO GLAD you guys are back!" she shouted, thrusting forth the aforementioned TinyBlackKitten. "You guys are looking for another cat, right?"


This kitten is probably a month and a half old, and - as we discovered today to the tune of $155 - has mites and fleas. It gets better - we're not sure if TinyBlackKitten has Feline Leukemia or FIV yet, so she's been living in our tiny bathroom for the past couple of days. This is where she'll be living for the next ten days until we get rid of the fleas and mites.

Our cat, Manny, has been camped out in front of the bathroom door ever since TinyBlackKitten arrived, and is getting increasingly jealous. He doesn't have anything to worry about, as we're not even sure we're able to keep TinyBlackKitten because of the financial problem (vet bills; spaying; declawing; shots; etc.).

Why, then, are we doing this? Blame us being decent people with oversized hearts when it comes to animals. This kitten was thrown from a moving car, and our neighbor - whose intentions were admirable - decided she couldn't keep the kitten and handed her off to us. Currently we're researching our options, including no-kill shelters. This came completely out of the blue; we had been looking into adopting a cat from Crash's Landing. Anybody reading this is welcome to help, either financially or by presenting some options.

Oh, and Universe? Piss right off, won't you?

UPDATE: TinyBlackKitten has tested negative for Feline Leukemia and FIV. As the vet told us, "aside from the fleas and mites, she's very healthy."
We're currently looking into low cost vets for spaying and declawing.