In the summer of 2014, I was at my friend Savannah’s house and she said that one of her cats had given birth and tossed a premature baby to the side. My sister Amber convinced me that we should take the premature one home and raise it as our own. I soon agreed with her and we traveled back home to start our long strenuous journey into “parenthood.” I knew we would be successful because in our childhood years we raised rabbits and other various animals and were successful then. Here is my journey of my first time raising a kitten and making a lifelong memory.
Embarking on our journey, Amber and I traveled home in my Mazda 6 with the small little fuzz ball! When we arrived at my house, my mother was furious and irritated that we had brought another animal home. She argued that we should take it back and the mother would take care of it. But Amber insisted that we keep it because the mother’s instincts said that she couldn’t provide for the kitten.
Eventually, my mother agreed and we improvised by putting the baby in a box with an old T-shirt and some shavings. We rushed to our local pet store to buy some formula because the little baby was hungry! The hardest part of feeding our new baby was it couldn’t get the formula out of the bottle regardless of size nipple size. I soon figured out that it needed to grow up a little more before it could use the bottle. For the time being we improvised with a standard dropper to feed it.
Here I am feeding the little one some formula with the dropper; it was amazing to see that this baby kitten was roughly the size of my hand! Amber and I soon realized we had to name our newest member of the Miller family! So we assumed that the kitten was a girl and because of the white diamond under the neck we decided that Diamond was a perfect fit! After all Diamond was just like a diamond in the rough!
Just like a mother cat, we had to be very punctual with feeding Diamond. This was the roughest part being that it required we feed her every three to four hours. This was no problem during the summer because we didn’t have school! Soon school started back and the rough part started! My mom had to drive back home on her 30-minute lunch break to feed Diamond and then rush back to work. Not too far into the school year, Diamond started eating canned food which made our lives so much easier!
Soon Diamond started growing up right before our eyes and becoming so playful! It was amazing to see how much life the little kitten had! Diamond was so precious and cute, but could be a little rough at times. She would always have an adventure when we let her roam freely and would often hide and pounce on our feet as we walked by! It was a hilarious sight to see!
Of course, I had to have my cuddle time with my precious baby! I had never had a cat before so it was so cool to listen to Diamond purr and have her cuddle up with me! Another weird, interesting thing I found out was her eye color progressively changed from blue to green and, eventually, to a vibrant yellow!
Not long into Diamond’s childhood, Amber and I discovered that she was actually a boy! My mother and father just laughed at us hysterically. I soon decided that our kitten’s name was no longer Diamond, but now his name was Nike. We took Nike outside to explore and enjoy the outside world which he soon would claim as his new home and playground!
Nike’s journey from childhood to adulthood was one of the most amazing things I could have ever experienced. It was a unique life event for me that I hold close to my heart. After all, how many people can say they bottle feed a kitten from two weeks old to adulthood?! Nike currently lives in Hampton, Georgia with my family while I attend college in Tifton, Georgia.
It was hard leaving for my first semester of college because I was so use to seeing him every day. I cried and gave him a hug and waved goodbye to him for the first time. I knew that I would soon be coming home and seeing him soon!
Nike has grown up so much and I miss him every single day, but that is just the one more reason to be excited to go home! Thanks, Mom, for letting me keep Nike!
