Thimble-kitten arrived in our lives on August 16, 2024; rescued from the parking lot of a local convenience store by our son, she was nearly starved, dirty, infested with fleas and lice.
Howard gave her the first of several baths, provided a month's worth of kitten food.
By the time we got her to a vet appointment four days later, Thimble, though still thin had found her place in our home and had begun to assert her considerable personality.
The vet judged that Thimble was between 8 and 10 weeks old, placing her birth during the month of June.
During these past weeks I've been telling her she is no longer a 'kitten' but a 'cat!'
Thimble is the naughtiest, most imaginative feline we've met in our decades of sharing our home with cats.
She carries her toys [a collection of green milk bottle caps] around like a puppy, bounces them down the stairs, waits for me to retrieve them from under shelves, from behind the piano, where ever they have landed. If we forget to pick up the lids and stow them in a drawer at bedtime, as soon as lights go out the 'toys' are located and clattered about the house.
Thimble is a rummager, an investigator, an acrobat, a too willing helper in every task.
The other cats do not enjoy her companionship; she chases, pounces, stalks. Rosie is her particular focus of torment and runs squalling while Thimble fixes her with a beady eye before launching herself in Rosie's direction.
Thimble's midnight antics often mean that she has to be sequestered in the sunroom for the remainder of the night.
And yet, particularly when she has created an uproar, sent objects flying from countertop or desk, splashed in the water bowl, there's that little whiskery face, those big eyes gazing at me; and so I scoop her up, let her clamber to my shoulder and purr in my ear. I tell her its a good thing that I love her!
First bath.
Anything to be noticed!
A moment of repose.
Any container must be tried on for size--the bucket of newspapers saved for fire starters.
Thimble never forgets that Howard rescued her, gave her a chance at life.
She makes it plain they have a bond.
Fearless!
Why shouldn't I make music?
The face of innocence.
A wastebasket full of fabric scraps, emptied on the floor.
This basket is the best fit.
A cushioned colander.
A box--for me!
Thimble enjoys quilts.
Enjoying the cat tower.
A friend of Howard wanted to rehome a cat condo/tower. It is a cumbersome thing, the posts wound with thin rope which Thimble has mostly unwound. I didn't feel we needed it, but it provides endless exercise and amusement for this kitten turned cat.
She is a performer, a show-off, an entertainer.
We may not have needed a kitten, but I can't now imagine life without Thimble!