The Story

Angel was born on May 28, 2002. She had 2 sisters and 2 brothers. Her mother is our orange and grey striped female cat, Blinky, and I think her father is a stray long-haired black and white cat that keeps hanging around our house. She is calico, but striped and she has the same half and half markings as her mother. Half of her face is grey, and half is orange. One of her sisters is calico, her other sister is grey and orange striped like her mother, one of her brothers was orange striped, and her other brother was orange and white.

Angel was the smallest of the five, and her mother tried to reject her since the day she was born. I would come home from picking Mandy up from school, and she would be in the middle of the kitchen floor crying her eyes out. Or her mother would move the other four kittens somewhere and leave her by herself. We kept putting her back with her mother, everytime this happened.

One day, we went on a trip to Las Vegas for our anniversary. The kittens were between 3 and 4 weeks old I think. When we returned, we found Angel on my side of the closet all by herself. She was so weak and helpless looking. It had been obvious that she hadn't been cared for for a couple of days, and her mother didn't want any part of her. I looked helplessly at my husband, Bryan, wondering what we could do for her, and he was telling me that it's just nature, that it was not meant for her to survive. I was so upset. I told him that we need to do something. I couldn't just sit back and watch her die.

We managed to get together $10 and I headed out to find someplace that would be open at like 10pm and have kitten formula. I tried a couple of grocery stores, but they didn't carry anything like that. Then I remembered that emergency vet over on Bradshaw, so I walked over there and they sold me some formula and gave me a kitten bottle.

I never did get the kitten bottle to work right, and wound up using an eye-dropper to feed her with. I fed her for about a week before her mother finally took her back. During that time, I think that she started thinking that I was her mother, because everytime she'd see me, she'd come running up to me and start purring, then demand food with her little meow. She was so sweet and it was hard not to get attatched to her.

She was my favorite from the day she was born and Bryan gave me the option of keeping her or keeping Fuzzy. At the time, Fuzzy was already atleast 8 or 9 weeks old, and we had grown pretty attached to him, so I told him that we'd keep Fuzzy. But now, after everything that she'd been through, I loved her even more. Bryan still insisted that we weren't keeping her, so I was determined that I would find a really good home for her.

Finally, during a trip that I took to Stockton, Bryan got pretty attached to Angel's sister, who we named Bandit, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to get away with keeping Bandit without keeping Angel too. So, he called me in Stockton and told me that he had decided that we were keeping both of them. So Angel became a member of our family and I named her Angel, because of the fact that I saved her life and because she was a little Angel.

Now, my little Angel isn't quite a little Angel anymore. She is very courious and likes to get into things. One of her favorite things to do is climb my curtains and get on my birdcage. Still, she is for the most part pretty well behaved, and is one of the only cats that uses the litterbox on a regular basis no matter what, that's more then what we could say for her sister who insists on pooping on the floor. She is not only my favorite, but is starting to become my husbands favorite as well. I'm really glad we kept her.

Care Sheet

Origin

It is believed that cats originated from Egypt.

Feeding

Cats are nibblers and they would prefer to have food available to them 24 hours a day. The best way to feed your cat is to provide dry food 24 hrs a day by way of a self feeder (a large covered container that holds a lot of food) or by keeping dry food in a dish. It's best to put the fresher food on the bottom. If your cat does not like or had a hard time eating dry food, you can moisten the food by adding a little water. You probably shouldn't leave moistened food for more then a day because it can get hard and sometimes even moldy. You can supplement this feeding by giving your cat a small can of wet food once or twice a day or even once in a while as a treat. Do not give your cat only wet food because wet food is mostly meat and is not a complete balanced diet for your cat. DO NOT give your cat milk. Milk has lactose in it and can cause your cat to have diarrhea. If you really want to give your cat "milk" as a treat, give your cat a milk substitute or formula instead. You can find various healthy milk substitutes for cats in the pet aisle of your local grocery store. Also, always provide a fresh bowl of water for your cat every day.

Environment

A cat would probably prefer to sleep with you. Other places they would like to sleep is in your window sill, on your couches or chairs, or an in our case, on top of snake tanks. If you want to designate a specific area for your cat to sleep, you can try offering them a bed made of a box and an old pillow or you can purchase a cat bed from your local pet store.
If your cat will be an indoor cat, you should provide a litter box for him/her. The litter box should be scooped daily and the litter should be changed about once a week. Maybe more if it starts to smell bad or if you have more then one cat. You don't need to purchase a real expensive litter. We use Johnny Cat for multiple cats, which is very reasonably priced, and we have found that it works very well.
Cats are very active and very courious. You should provide your cat with a variety of toys. I have found that cats prefer toys with cat nip in them, toys made of animal fur, or toys with bells. The smaller the toy the better. But don't get a toy that is so small that your cat may swallow it. You will find that cats will play with just about anything though. One favorite with our cats is the little plastic piece that you peel off of milk jug lids. They just love those!
Also, cats love to sharpen their claws. They will use about anything to do it with to, especially your furniture, drapes, etc. It's probably best to provide your cat with a scratching post made of wood and carpet, or of some other kind of material. Something for them to scratch on rather then your furniture. We have provided our cats with a multiple level scratching post. They love this because cats also love to climb.

If you would like to read more about cats. I have found that "Cat's In The House!" is a very fun and informative site to explore.