Meet Napoleon Maximilian

Or "Max" to his friends.

In other words, the Kitten Hatchery is unexpectedly open...

Two nights ago Beatrice's Mom came over to watch some television. When I opened the door, however, and said "Hi," she responded with, "Kitten." Uh, kitten? Sure enough, there by the food dish was a kitten I'd never seen before. A bit of chasing later and hey, there's an angry, angry kitten in my bathroom. (And a lot of blood from a kitten bite on my thumb, and a trip to the doctor for a tetanus shot in my very near future.)

He seems to be about 3months old or so and very, very dirty. He spent most of yesterday growling and huddling in the bathtub. But by last night he let me pet him a little (while hissing.) This morning he let me pet him, and leaned into the pets. Then, breakthrough! This afternoon he stretched up into the pets and started purring! I was able to pick him up (and discover that he is, in fact, a he) and plop him my lap-- where he promptly started rolling about and asking for me to pet his belly!!
We still have a ways to go-- I can't get him to play, for example. And he starts to growl whenever he sees me, but stops when I start petting him. He's eating well, and using the litter box with no trouble. He let me clean out his very dirty, very gross ears, although I suspect there'll be more of that to come, too. He clearly has worms (ew!) because he has the roundest belly ever.

So here's the thing. Fuzzy funny face, aka Angry Kitty (who is no longer so angry), aka Napoleon Maximilian, aka Max, needs a few things. First, he needs vet visits. Second, he needs a home. Should you wish to, you can help me with either of those...

I'm hoping to take him to the vet on Tuesday for his first kitten check up/vaccinations, etc. (De-worming.) If you'd like to help this poor, poor graduate student afford said vet visit, you can kick a few dollars my way via that PayPal button over there....

(Tomorrow he gets a bath... I'll try to take pictures.)