New family member

Hey all! We got a cat.

Actually she is a wee kitten, rescued from an abandoned litter that was born in my nephew’s shed. She is a beautiful little polydactyl calico that we have named Cleo. I believe she was about 6-7 weeks old when my nephew found the four kittens. He did a Facebook post showing them and within a day they were all rescued. One interesting thing, other than the polydactyl aspect, is that the lone male in the group is a grey tabby with a perfect M on his forehead which is typical of a Maine Coon (MC). Maine Coon cats also are prone to being polydactyl and calico.

I hope my sweet little girl is a MC because they are awesome cats.

She is playful, loves her scratching post and her ball-go-round toy. She is also very attached to Chuck and I. She is very cuddly which I love, and I think it’s because she was abandoned so young and missed the affection of her mother.

At first, before she was good at cleaning herself, I would wet a coarse cloth with very warm water and stroke her gently around her face, down her back, belly, and legs and finally her butt. Just the way her momma would have done. It was remarkable how it calmed her, and she seemed to enjoy it.

Another interesting aspect about a polydactyl is they are referred to as Hemingway cats, because Ernest Hemingway collected them at his homes. Cleo has six toes on one foot and five and a half on the other. The half is a not fully developed toe with a claw. The male was adopted by my sister, Mary. He is called Ernie, short for Ernest. Appropriately so.

I love her and she loves me. From the first she loved napping on me. She still does but rather than on my chest she lays in my lap. Sometimes she will stare at me, watching my face as I talk to her.

She will also follow me from room to room. If she can’t find one of us she starts meowing loudly until someone calls her name, then she comes running. A really funny thing she will do is follow me to the bathroom and we will potty together.

It is hilarious-she is such a girl.

Cheers!

-N and Cleo

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