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| Name: |
Austen
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Age: |
Three years old
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| Gender: |
Female
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Kind: |
Domestic Short Hair
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| Home: |
Decatur, Alabama, USA
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Austen
was found, near death, at around two weeks old, was bottle-fed,
and raised in a house full of rescued and very much loved and spoiled
cats. Austen was about eight months old in this picture. She lives in
Decatur, Alabama.
Austen and her brother, TK, were found in a field at about two weeks old,
motherless, sick and starving. When they were about four weeks old our vet
asked if we could take them in. Originally we called them BK (for Big
Kitten) and TK for Tiny Kitten. TK was about half of BK's size, and we
could only keep him going for about two weeks before we lost him. We since
had figured out that these kittens had food allergies, and it took some
trial and error to ensure that BK survived. We changed BK's name to
Austen, and the other cats in our household helped us to raise her and
keep her thriving.
Austen is three now, and she is a healthy, active and fun cat. She seems
to have outgrown any food allergies she had when she was a baby. When
she's really happy, she makes little piggy noises when you scritch her on
the head. Austen is very communicative, using both voice and gestures to
get her message across. When she wants a snack, she will look you in the
eye and meow. If you don't respond, she will jump up on the counter where
the snack jar is kept, then look you in the eye and meow. If you try to
walk by her without giving her a snack, she will reach out and grab your
arm, then look you in the eye and meow. If that doesn't work, then she
will merely knock the plastic snack jar to the floor and hope that the lid
opens up. Austen really doesn't care to take 'no' for an answer!
We have to duct tape the water reservoir bottle to the kitty drinking
fountain because Austen gets a little too exuberant in her efforts to
displace the water in the bottle to get the 'glub-glub' sound. She used to
really enjoy it when we had a ceramic crock water dispenser we used with
five-gallon water jugs. She actually used to stand up, put her arms around
the bottle, and then shake it up to get her glub-glub fix. When we
replaced the empty bottle with a new one, Austen was always right there in
glub-glub bliss. There's just never been a dull moment with Austen in our
lives.
There is a silly trick that Austen does... she will 'tretch' (stretch)
when asked. When I ask her to 'tretch;' she will almost always respond by
walking a few steps and then stretching out her back legs, one at a time.
Then I give her lots of praise and some treats. If we have company, we try
to get her to show off her trick. If she's reluctant, sometimes I can walk
alongside her and start doing it myself and then she will watch me and
then pace herself so that we are doing it together. Some day we will have
to film that because it's goofy as all get out. She gets her treats and we
all get a good laugh.
This wonderful kitty sleeps on my pillow next to my head every night. I
would like to think it's a show of affection to me on her part, but with seven
other cats in the house, it's more likely her way of reminding everyone
that she's the top cat in this family!
This top picture shows Austen on the kitchen counter. Behind the toaster
is the base of the crock water dispenser. I have been told that the 'orb'
on the right is TK come back to visit! This bottom picture shows TK, BK
(Austen) at four weeks old with our Maine Coon, Tiger, who was
demonstrating how to safely lick a plastic bag without tearing it.
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