Every single time you mention her I wonder what the poor thing has done that made you give her that name!
Especially as your naming of the other cats seems so fitting and considerate!
Piglet joined the family in mid summer of 2014. I previously had two cats, Sparky and Peanut, both in their mid-late teens that had come to me when my friend's mother passed away suddenly and unexpectedly from cancer in fall of 2010. Peanut passed in April of 2014, so at that point I had only Sparky (who crossed the bridge in April of 2018 - April seems a bad month for my cats). My friend Jim’s wife had a coworker who had a cat that had kittens, and asked if I wanted one or two. Since I occasionally travel for work and am gone a week or two at a time, I said yes, so Sparky would have a companion again. Fast forward a month (June) and she calls me to say all have been spoken for. Oh well, more cats will have kittens.
In early August, we're dropping something off at another friend’s place and standing on the front step chatting when a pickup truck with a rather loud exhaust system passes, stops in front of the neighbor's house then continues down the street. I glanced over at it because of the loud noise, but beyond that paid it no attention. Shortly after it had pulled away, Jim looks over to me and says "hey Pat, you wanted another cat, right?" I sort of looked at him like he had three heads because the question was completely out of the blue. He responded to my puzzled look by pointing to the end of the driveway, where there was a tiny orange and white kitten. He explained that when the truck stopped in front of the neighbor's house, he'd seen the door open and the driver had placed the kitten on the ground. He’d waited for a bit to see if the neighbor was going to come get the cat, but then concluded it was being abandoned and pointed it out to me.
My first thought was 'oh crap, I’m going to be chasing a skittish kitten across Watertown Avenue!', but when I went to the end of the driveway and called out, she ran right up to me. She was a tiny little thing, so I scooped her up and brought her back up to the house. (A few minutes later the loud truck drove back up the street; believe me, if looks could kill that guy would have died on the spot.) She was wearing a flea collar that was much too tight, to the point the sides of her neck were rubbed raw and bloody, and looked like she had half a tennis ball protruding from her belly (turned out to be a huge umbilical hernia, thankfully not strangulated and thus not an immediate life threatening issue - the vet stated it was the largest he’d seen on a kitten that small). Brought her home and introduced her to Sparky; fortunately they got along fine.
First introduction:
Took her to the vet as soon as I could and got her checked out. Beyond the hernia and neck wounds, she was pronounced healthy, but underfed and underweight. The vet at first thought she was about eight weeks old based on her size, but upon seeing her teeth revised his estimate to twelve weeks. She got her name because, having been partially starved, she had a voracious appetite and would inhale her food, then push Sparky aside and eat hers, too. She was eating like a pig, and thus was christened Piglet.
There are still spots on either side of her neck where no fur grows. (They shaved her neck at the vet's to make applying antibiotic ointment easier)
The lump from the hernia is visible here:
And here:
There is a special place in hell for anyone who could drop this off to fend on her own:
The hernia was taken care of a few weeks later when she was spayed, and she has since been a happy and healthy ball of fur. All I can conclude is that she was a pet and they decided that the didn’t want to pay to have the hernia taken care of, so she was discarded on the side of the road. As horrific as that was, I’m very glad she was discarded where my friend saw her, and I was able to take her in. She is a total sweetheart and cuddle monster.
And thus concludes the tale (tail?) of Piglet.
-Pat
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