Awww

Yesterday, my two little brothers were out on one of their expeditions into the pasture. They always have to go on the side that the cows are not on. The cows generally graze in the same pattern each day, so at the time, they were on the hilly side of the pasture. My brothers thus decided to visit the creek and look for frogs. When they got there, they didn't find any frogs, but they did find a little kitten about a foot away from the water's edge with its eyes glued shut. The kitten was tangled in a pile of brush, but it still was holding its head up and trying to look around. Nicholas went back to the house and got a cardboard box with a towel, and Trey and I reached in and worked the kitten out of the brush, and carried it back through the pasture. We took it into my playhouse, which has been the temporary home of many animals throughout the years, including my dog, Fairy, when she was hit by a car and had to stay inside for six weeks so that her cast wouldn't get wet, my puppy, Jewel, that I got in 5th grade, and the numerous cats and kittens that we've brought home throughout the years. Anyway, we took the kitten in there, and I began to try to clean up its eyes. When our cat Samantha had her first set of kittens, they had the same problem. For some reason, their eyes run and get stuck together so that they can't see. Ususally the problem can be remedied just by cleaning them with a warm, damp paper towel, so this is what I decided to do. I got one eye clean, and as soon as the kitten could see again, it spit and hissed at me, and ran away to hide under some furniture that was in my playhouse. We put out some food and water, and left hoping for the best. I told my brothers that we'd give the kitten another chance, but that if it continued to be mean, we'd turn it out and it could be a barn cat. I have scars on both arms from a cat that we resuced from the dump, and I dont' want to repeat that experience. This morning, I went outside to check on the kitten, and as soon as I sat down in the middle of the floor, it came out and crawled in my lap. It was completely nice today, so I'm thinking that the reason it was mean yesterday was the trauma of being confused about what was happening. I got the little kitten to eat some food a little while ago, so I'm thinking that it will eventually be okay. The only thing that I'm really concerned about at this point is that it seems to have a cold, but I'm hoping that this will improve since its eyes are completely better today. I guess for now, I have a new kitten, and we'll see how things turn out. We're not sure if it's a boy or a girl yet, but we've decided on Oliver for a boy and Olive for a girl.