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Prince Valiant
~ Born about Sept. 21, 2016, Male, White-Mitted, Red and White Maine Coon Mix
bonded with Kangaroo
December update: As the only male Prince Valiant had the pick of 6 little girl kittens he lived with. He absolutely has fallen for bewitching little Kangaroo. They need to be adopted together. They pine without the other. We took Kanga in for a combo test at the vet and Valiant cried the whole time she was gone. They cuddle with each other constantly. So we will set them up to live their lives together.
Original post: Every rescue kitty is a story. Prince Valiant is another kitten who came to me as I walked into the San Jose Shelter. A young woman had found him in the back of the auto repair shop where her husband worked. He was undoubtedly dropped by his mom as she was moving him. (just as a power tool started up shrilly?) He had a big swelling under his right ear above his eye--you can see it has been shaved in his Cover Shot. The young woman had had him over a day and he hadn’t eaten anything. She offered him dry adult cat kibble and milk. Worried that the shelter would put him down due to his lump (tumor?), I said, “Here, you better give him to me”. Back in his foster home, he weighed 1 pound 5 ounces. We gave him Nitro fancy mousse wet food and it disappeared in one big gulp. He ate everything we gave him and gained 6 ounces overnight.! Nothing wrong with his appetite. The next morning, we found his big smooth lump had split open and drained during the night. It was an abscess. Off he went to the vet, who flushed out his wound and shaved the area. Problem solved.
Valiant loved humans and loved being held. I think he loved the animal warmth of our hands. We gave him a cat-shaped toy that emitted an electric faux cat heartbeat to sleep with. After a couple weeks, we put him in with some little kittens. He spent a day being scared of them and then settled in just fine. Kittens do better with kitten company. Tomorrow, 12/5, he is going to be neutered and as soon as he gets a combo test, he will be ready to go home. He has been growing extremely quickly. Right now, his big pleasure is playing and running about. He doesn’t want to be held ‘til he is exhausted and then he will sleep in your arms.
He is a light red tabby with white feet and bib. His bib already looks like it is growing into a Maine Coon type ruff. He is ten+ weeks old. He will keep growing until he is about three and a half years old. He is a baby and younger than I usually adopt out. But he is a confident, healthy little guy. He needs other kittens to play with him and most importantly a family that will protect him and keep him safe ‘til he is older. He is a dummy in terms of safety. Safety? What’s that?
One note: A Memorial. The day we met Valiant at the shelter, we were there to get a middle-aged flame point Siamese girl we named Aurora. She was super thin and the shelter needed her out. Was she dehydrated and so very thin because she got out or was left outside? or was it something worse like kidney failure? Her blood work which the shelter provided for us was good. We wanted to give her a chance. With her gravelly Siamese voice, she was quite a character and we loved her. We gave her fluids and syringe fed her since she ate poorly. Her teeth were good. At the vet an x-ray showed she was just full of cancer so all we could do was gently let her go and bury her in our kitty cemetery. Because of her, that we were there for her, Prince Valiant was saved. I wish we could have saved both. And I am glad we have Valiant.
Prince Valiant eats wet and dry kitten food and is litterbox perfect.
Valiant’s foster mom is Harriet in Santa Cruz.
NOTE: We prefer families with children bring them to the adoption appointment. Why? This allows interaction between the children and the cat. This helps ensure they will be a good fit for each other. A mismatch between a child and a cat is not in anyone’s best interest!
