The story of Cheese, the adopted kitten
I got Olivia another cat. It’s a little silver tabby she named Cheese, to go with the other rescue cat, Crackers.
We got Crackers as an adult, and she decided she liked me more. I’m her human. That did not go over well with Olivia.
One day in June, I was at the pet shop when I struck up a conversation with a worker. I told her I was thinking about adopting a kitten for my daughter. I felt a kitten would be more trainable, which also means it could be taught to tolerate car rides. That way, the kitten can travel with Olivia on the weeks she’s at her dad’s house. That would make it truly Olivia’s cat.
This worker ended up telling me about a litter of kittens needing a home. Apparently, customers show up at the pet shop asking for help finding homes for stray animals. I’ve never done that, but it makes sense.
I called this customer/ foster cat owner and met the cats. He said his wife found the mother cat and four kittens near Kualoa Regional Park. He had taken them to the vet, who estimated them to be three weeks old. He was a super caring animal lover. After the kittens finished nursing, we went back and picked up Cheese.
It’s been a few weeks and Cheese is everything we’d hoped her to be. She is imprinted on Olivia as her new mother and follows her around and sleeps with her. She is decent in the car and the cat backpack. She is social and affectionate.
Crackers isn’t crazy about this new addition yet, but it isn’t so bad. She growls and hisses at Cheese, but has come to allow her to sit six inches away. Unfortunately, Cheese is fearless, curious, and desperate for a cat friend, so she keeps following around Crackers hoping for a playmate. If it lasts too long, it aggravates Crackers, who ends up running away to a different part of the house, or jumping on a high shelf that the kitten can’t yet reach.
Follow me on Instagram: @diane_ako or Facebook: Diane Ako to keep up with the antics of Cheese and Crackers. Let’s hope in the near future Crackers comes to accept the kitten!
