First things first...she had a case of fleas which took me over three months to eradicate. Thing about getting a kitten from a private home means there will be fleas. And since fleas have many stages I had to fight the grown fleas, the baby fleas and fight the eggs that I could not see. I googled the topic until I became the master of fighting fleas. And then after all that information was learned, I had to google getting fleas out of my house, carpet, furniture,...anywhere I thought they may exist and let me tell you...fleas can infest in many different places in the house..not just your pet.
Here are some photos of Belle when I first got her.
Belle was not the original name I had in mind for her but when I saw her it just stuck. She was very tiny and had a tiny voice and very sharp claws. I love the way kittens pop up out of nowhere with their tiny heads. My son even had second thoughts about being the go-between for me to get this kitten as he fell for her too. Those bright blue eyes and little pink nose immediately drew us both in. And she adapted to my house with little effort. I provided her with all the play toys I could. She took to scratching my sofa but I taped up the corners with shipping tape and she stopped. That was okay because then the other problem popped up...the fleas!
Kitty liked to sit on the sofa near my shoulder right away and watch TV with me. I look at Belle today and cannot believe how small she was. And she was much fluffier than she is now. Everybody in the neighborhood saw me outside and wanted to touch her and hold her and I let them but did warn that I had begun the assault on the fleas and they all had good advice for me which seems to have worked.
Belle is really photogenic. I think the photos I shared on social media actually inspired a few people to go get a cat out of a shelter. My friend Joan adopted an older cat and named it Fritz. I was glad to have played some part in that since I connected one of my FB friends with her who takes in cats for re-homing.
I bought a bunch of cute collars for belle and there is a bell on all of them so that I know where she is. When i come home at night she is waiting on the arm of the sofa right by the front door and i bend down and we meet nose to nose. Its a silly ritual but it tells me that my kitty misses me as I miss her.
We licked the fleas. But know this..it was not easy. I first bathed her in Dawn Dish soap and she hated it..claws out full throttle scratch match. No matter how gentle I was she was not having it. But i was always glad when i got done. And trust me I was not ready for the red water that came out of the baths..you see the "poop" left by the fleas is actually blood and so when belle was wet she ran red colored water and it was all over her coat. And it was also scary watching all the fleas run to her head, down her face and to her nose. I had to be so careful not to get water in her nose and ears as she fought the good fight. And those stubborn fleas did not just fall off, i had to rub them off and keep doing it. A bath every few days for weeks! Followed by a flea treatment and in between visits to the vets to get her shots and they administered a flea treatment as well. There were the shots, the liquid drops and a pill that was supposed to kill off any fleas for the next 30 days..i did each of these exercises for a month for three months. Then i had to be sure there were no fleas in my house. I left out trays of water with a candle burning in the middle to attract the fleas and did so for two months. I spent so much time worrying about fleas that I barely got to enjoy holding and cuddling my kitty for fear of becoming flea infested myself. Some households, I learned, get flea bites all over their bodies and I didn't want to be one of those casualties. Also some people become allergic to cats due to the fleas themselves or the medicine they are giving their cat to fight them. I feared for a while that this cat ownership thing would not work out and it dogged me night and day...until that one day about four months later when i was able to pick up my cat, stroke her fur and look for fleas and not find even one. That flea collar and monthly flea treatments seems to be holding now. Good thing. I can even let Belle come into my room now where as before I had shut the doors to every room in the house to keep any flea infestation out. Now being able to relax a little more I am thoroughly enjoying my kitty.
