Poor five-week-old Meeko had quite a scare.
A young family found him hiding in their lawn on July 7th. They were surprised to see such a young kitten alone, and even more worried about the fact that he hadn’t moved for hours. Worried he was injured, they called Paws for the Cause and were put in contact with Laura Wilhelm, the director of the nonprofit.
Turns out the poor guy was scared stiff.
“He was so terrified that he stayed in that lawn for hours, not moving,” Wilhelm remembered.
His fear was likely tied to the fact that he had been abandoned at too young an age. With a mother cat nowhere in sight, Paws for the Cause decided to take charge.
“He was still pretty shaken for the first couple days but since ‘feral’ cats are our specialty we know just what to do to get them to turn for us,” Wilhelm explained. “Lots of firm, assertive petting and wet food!”
Another older cat was also padding around Paws for the Cause; Butch, a tabby cat who had been rescued sometime earlier. Butch took to Meeko, and become a kind of surrogate cat dad.
“As soon as he started to soften up we introduced him to Butch, it was uphill after that,” Laura remembered.
Meeko didn’t adjust to his new life among humans for four days. Once he crossed over, he was almost unrecognizable. He even started to purr.
“He is an incredibly loving and sweet kitten. He loves water and will jump straight into a full bathtub,” said Wilhelm.
Such for a scaredy cat!
After a couple months, Meeko was adopted by a loving family.
“He found a great forever home with two dogs and another lynx point Siamese named Meeko. What are the odds,” laughed Wilhelm.
He’s no longer that tiny, petrified kitten in the grass, but he’s still got a lot of growing to do.
Apparently, he’s taken over most of the furniture, including his owner’s bed. What ever happened to that apprehensive little kitten?
Luckily, Meeko’s new owners have given him lots of toys so that he stays busy, and he can satisfy his new, insatiable drive to explore. He may be a house cat now, but he’ll always be a wild one.
Meeko was particularly lucky given that Paws for the Cause is a not-for-profit animal rescue organization mainly focused on rescuing dogs. Its mission is “to rescue, house, feed, clean, and medicate dogs and puppies left, for whatever reason, particularly in those public shelters, where they are at high risk of euthanasia due to overpopulation.”
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(h/t) Love Meow
