Nigel and April

Okay, I lied. Today was supposed to be about the natural remedies book. I forgot the book and therefore the book's information at home. So today will be about Nigel. Well, Nigel and April.

I used to work in an animal hospital in Illinois, DuPage Animal Hospital. We were the holding facility for strays for the local police department. One night, just about nine years ago, one of the officers brought in three kittens that had been found. They were about a week or two old, very cold and very wet. There was a black and white female, April. The two males were a blue and white tabby, KC, later to be named Forest, and a red tabby, Patrick, later to be named Nigel. KC seemed to be the strongest of the three. So, they were dried off and warmed up and fed and came home with me to be raised and then adopted out. I had some doubts about whether or not Patrick would survive. Soon they began to thrive. April and Patrick were growing by leaps and bounds, KC, was starting to lag behind. It was also becoming apparent that perhaps Patrick had a different father. He was fast on his way to becoming twice the size of the other two and he was fast becoming a long haired cat while the other two were very much short haired cats.

Poor little KC seemed to be falling behind developmentally. Soon his name was switched to Forest by one of my co-workers. If you've seen the movie, you know why the change. Sadly, around 12 weeks old, Forest became very ill. He was acting like a blocked cat. It started on a Saturday afternoon. On Sunday morning when I got up, he clearly wasn't doing well. Into work we went. Forest never came home. His ureter had ruptured. Forest had what they call PKD, polycystic kidney disease. Now what to do, April and Patrick were supposed to be going to their new homes. April was going to my friend Laura and Patrick was supposed to go to my friend Carol. I had one kitten that died of genetic disease. How could I adopt out a cat that could potentially develop it? Laura said that she would take April anyways. I decided to keep Patrick. He was just too cute. There was one problem however. He didn't like his name. He wouldn't respond to it. It became clear that a name change was in order.

I started calling different names. No reaction. Mom suggested Nigel. I called Nigel and he turned around. So....Nigel it was. He was to be a show cat. His registered name was Lord Nigel Patrick Winfield.

Nigel showed great as a kitten. Not only was he sweet and adorable, but huge. At 8 months old, he weighed 13 1/2 pounds. Pretty much what he weighs now. He was kind of like Clifford the Big Red Dog. He finished his kitten season #2 in the region and 28th in the world. Not too shabby for a little weakling stray kitten.

At one show, we had a littermate contest. We put Nigel and April, who was a petite black and white shorthair in the same cage. Let the judge figure that one out!!

Nigel has been a dream. He's a wonderful cat. My little soul mate. He does have a bit more of an interesting story that I'll share at a later date.

April 5th, Happy Birthday April and Nigel. I love you babies. Laura, give April big kitty kisses from me and Nigel.

meow for now,
melissa