She was born in my garage a year ago last summer, and has been here and gone and back again. This summer, she delivered her first litter, of 4 kitties (2 of which survived the summer heat, feline influenza, and other hazards of being young and fluffy and not very bright). Just about the time she was preparing to wean her young'uns, her nest was discovered by a raccoon, and she did battle with it to defend her babies. She succeeded, but at great cost to herself. She was injured pretty badly in the shoulder and ribcage, and developed an infection. She wouldn't let me pick her up or cage her, so that I might take her to a vet, so whatever healing she was going to do, she did on her own. Toward the end of July, she had a knot of infected tissue on her shoulder that was about the size of a half-baseball. It scared the bejeebers out of me, because I was sure, between that thing and her being scrawny from nursing, she wouldn't make it. As you can see, I was wrong. The scar is visible, but there's no real sign of infection, she's begun to put on weight, and she's become extremely cuddly (is that a sign that she may be going into heat? I hope not. I don't think I can stand the stress).
Anyway, now that Fu has come back, her two surviving boys have also learned to sit in my lap. They've also picked up a bad habit -- drinking out of strange vessels
Sweetie, I wouldn't recommend that!
Oh, see, now your brother Aye Aye has gone and gotten potted
You know it's not nice to laugh at your brother!
Has hardship made them dysfunctional? Nah. I blame an overweening pride.
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