taking care of a kitten

One December morning in our apartment vehicle parking area, a little kitten was found seeking attention. The kitten seemed to be abandoned by someone who didn't want or couldn't take care of it. The tiny creature looked hungry. One of the residents kept a bowl of milk & bread for it. The kitten would lap up the milk and leave the bread. I think this went for 2 or 3 days. One Sunday morning Pushpa and I got back from our bicycle ride, as we parked our bikes, the little one appeared. Pushpa has a fondness for kittens, she picked up and brought it home.

I was against the idea of it staying on our home. My reason was that it needs to answer its calls of nature. So we decided to let it stay on the terrace. There's lot of place for it run around and it could use one or two planters for taking care of its business. The arrangement worked, it seemed comfortable and safe on the terrace. Also, we would feed it only on the terrace but let it spend few minutes everyday inside.

When inside it would explore every nook and corner. It would claw the foot mats. Once we gave it an unused PET bottle. The way it played with the bottle was amusing. I think kittens are more active and playful when they are being watched. Little show-off creatures. They know how to get attention and also good at emotional blackmailing.

It almost a month since it became our building resident. Its growing up fast. Our attempts at finding someone to adopt it hasn't worked so far. Looks like its going to become our apartment cat.

Talking of cats, these two proverbs are commonly known-

1. Curiosity killed the cats.

2. Cat has nine lives.

Out of curiosity I Googled if there were more such proverbs, instead I found a few amusing quotes:

• Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are God. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are God - Christopher Hitchens
• In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this - Terry Pratchett
• Cats have it all - admiration, an endless sleep, and company only when they want it - Rod McKuen
• I had been told that the training procedure with cats was difficult. It's not. Mine had me trained in two days - Bill Dana

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