My new kitten and I have a lot in common. For one, he and I both used to live in a giant pile of Jeep parts. Two, his favorite color is, naturally, orange, which happens to be the color of my favorite thing: rust. And Three, his grooming tendencies are quite similar to mine: They need work. Anyway, here’s an update on the Jeep Cat.
First, allow me a short moment to whine a bit about how expensive cat care is. I dropped $250 on the first round of shots for Jaws, who’s name results from a hole he put in my friend’s finger when she went to pull him out of my rare manual Jeep Grand Cherokee for the first time. He’s since apologized, as he’s a gentle-natured kitten, but his name remains.
The next round of shots will probably cost another $250. You add the litter box, cat carrier, food, and all the other stuff I’m having to buy, and this Jeep-cat is literally going to cost more than many actual Jeeps that I’ve owned over the years.
Those Jeeps, though, never ran quite this well, though:
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Socializing a feral kitten is tricky. Once it’s tasted the sweet, sweet nectar that is humanlessness, it tends to prefer to remain far away from The Most Flawed Of All The Species. I get it.
Luckily, Jaws is a mere nine weeks old, so there’s hope for him yet. I mean, just look at him idling at 650 RPM in the video above. Perfect air:fuel ratio, ignition timing dialed in! He’s come a long way from when I brought him home for the first time (shortly after the biting incident that he wants us to forget); he cowered in the corner and didn’t want to hang out with anyone:
Eventually he did start eating:
And when my friend and I took him to the vet, he was very kind — barely even meowed, really:
As the weekend progressed, Jaws became bolder and bolder, eventually exploring my apartment like he owned the place
After leaving two steaming piles on one of my blankets, Jaws figured out the litter box entirely on his own (I did place him in there so he knew it was there, but otherwise potty-training was insanely easy — borderline automatic!) [Update: NEVERMIND. He tried pooping on my blanket just now. -DT]. :
My friend and I gave Jaws a much-needed wash two days after applying anti-flea medicine; he smells a lot better. The pile of parts he’d been living in wasn’t exactly sanitary. Also, the possum that had been eating his food probably didn’t help, though I’m told those eat ticks and other bugs:
Anyway, here he is as of this morning — living the dream:
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He’s come a long way from living in here:
I’ll try to foster the other three kittens in the litter if I find them in the parking lot (they left the Jeep a few weeks ago). Then I’ll try to find them a good home. Until then, I’ve got Jaws to take care of. He’s a handful, but also not — an incredibly gentle, kind, fun little rust-colored furball without an ounce of aggression in his bones. He’s awesome.
That’s a dang cute kitty, really glad you took the little guy in!
I‘m Now Owned by A Cat Born In A Jeep. Here’s How He’s Doing
Fixed it for you. Seriously glad he has found a good home.
DAAWWWW!!! KITTAY!!!!!
$250 for the first round of shots? Damn. I knew LA was expensive, but that’s steep.
Cats are worth it though. My parents had to dump a lot of money into the half-dead 4 week old stray I brought them, but he was the best cat they ever had. Just a big fuzzy love bug from his first day to his last.
David, you’re the best! God keeps a special place in heaven for those who help the little ones. Good on you brother… if you ever need anything, just ask!
$250 Would be a start.
Good on you, my friend! You are a true Mensch. Mr. Jaws is going to be a great companion.
Awww, she’s so cute! If you die she’ll eat your face first.
This is good autopian. (Catopian?)
My best boy Schrodinger passed in February (no matter how many times I observed the apartment, he was still gone) and it absolutely broke my heart to pieces. He was a big floofball Nebelung, strongly bonded to me, and always gentle. The vet was good enough to do a house call, so I could hold him in the setting sunlight as his heartbeat slowed for the last time.
A month beforehand we adopted a pair of tiny torties off the streets here in Bahrain. One was 5 months old, the other was only a few weeks. The littlest one we named Kalila (“beloved” in Arabic) because we weren’t sure she’d make it. Sadly, the feline calicivirus infection she came with eventually claimed her. Her sister, Dr. Haifa (we got them both from behind Dr. Haifa’s Eye Hospital where my wife got PRK) is hale, healthy, and an absolute menace. We love her.
A few months after we said goodbye to Schrodinger we decided to adopt another cat. A local rescue had found a fluffy white cat on the street, fur matted and clogged with oil and diesel soot. Turns out he’s a Persian whose breeder dumped him on the street after he got too old to reliably sell – a sadly common practice here. Archie (full name: Archimedes Death Ray) cleaned up well and while he’s still not terribly well socialized he’s coming along.
It’s really interesting to see the difference between these two cats. Dr. Haifa is 100% the product of natural selection. Her fur is at most half an inch long, and she’s small, lean, athletic, and intensely curious. She is a menace and will eat anything. In vehicular terms she’s a 125cc motorcycle that can run on kufta grease.
Archie is an out of warranty S-klasse. That unbelievably luxurious fur gets matted easily, he’s got a sensitive stomach, his short nose means he runs out of steam quickly, and he’s got an asymmetric underbite. He absolutely would not have survived long in the wild here. He’s part of the family now and he gets along well with Haifa. (Too well, actually; she’s teaching him all her larcenous habits.)
I can’t wait for more Catopian content. <3
Welcome to the World Of Cat – just watch out he doesn’t get more famous and popular than you! (One of my little furry devils has about 100x the number of Facebook followers that I do, but being a cat gives him an unfair advantage!)
Jaws looks like a great little feline! And what a terrific origin story, being born in the back of DT-special.
I’m not sure where our cat, whom appeared rather similar to DT’s when we got her was born, but I don’t think she was much older than Jaws here. My daughter and I had went to the shelter to look at dogs. The pickings were slim, so she asked to check out the cats.
We walked down the cat isle, and noticed that most of the cats in there had various special needs and/or didn’t look too good. However, halfway down, there was this orange and white kitten that ran up to the side of the cage when my daughter approached. She rolled over on her back and stuck one of those tiny paws right through the cage bars. My daughter immediately squeezed it, emotionally melted, and there was no possible way I could turn down her wish of bringing the thing home after witnessing that ridiculous display of initial affection.
That cat knew what it was doing. When we did the final paperwork, we couldn’t help but notice the shelter had typed “strong and particular” under personality-type.
Nine years later, Madeline is still with us, an incredibly whiney little shit that hates every living thing except myself, my daughter, our other cat (another story), and kinda-sorta tolerates my wife. She’s actually kind of perfect and I sincerely hope your upbringing of Jaws turns out at least as well!
If the place you and Jaw’s are living in employs mini blinds as window coverings I suggest you take them down and pack them away for when you move out. Then you can put them back up clean, un-vandalized.
Plus the cords aren’t safe for cats.
Cats and mini blinds don’t get along very well.
Get yourself some curtains or roll ups.
(and never for a second think you know how high cats can jump, they continuously amaze)
Vertical blinds should be OK.
Provided they aren’t of the fabric variety, yes.
Congrats on your new little fur ball!
As an official ‘person on the internet’ I am hereby fully authorized to give you a solid recommendation, which you are required to follow to the letter otherwise you will risk my undying wrath and revenge. Fortunately for you though, I’ve actually absorbed so many traits from my own two cats that I actually don’t really care if you follow my recommendation or not, and I will be entirely too lazy to follow up on this recommendation, unless of course you actually respond to it and I actually see that notification. But then I probably still won’t care.
Anyway. My recommendation would be to get another cat, particularly one of his littermates if possible. Cats are great at entertaining each other, particularly when they’re young. I know it sounds crazy when you’re just sticking your toe in the pool of cat servitude, but in reality, two cats is like 1.375x the work of one.
Ok, ok ok. So, I get if you don’t like that recommendation (even though its a totally good one. I had one cat for years and years, and then when we actually got 2, it was so different and so much better for us and the cats!), then at least check out Jackson Galaxy on YouTube. He’s considered a cat whisperer, cat daddy, cat guru, he’s really good. He’ll give you great advice on how to catify your living space, how to train your cat, play with them, feed, etc. He’ll also tell you not to declaw your cat, AND, he’ll tell you to get another one too!
Good luck to you and Jaws!
The recommendation to get another cat to raise with Jaws should be given strong consideration.
Two cats will help exercise each other and keep themselves occupied resulting in less damage to infrastructure and human nerves. Talk to your vet and the animal rescue people for data. Thread is long enough already, so I’ll forgo posting anecdotes cute though they may be
Congratulations on your new pet David! Hopefully you will be able to find the others and give them a home as well.
And what happened to the opossum? Were you able to get it out of your Jeep?
It scurried off!
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And, of course, Cloth-With-A-Questionable-Stain.
Welcome to CatDadDom™️.
And yes, the little fuckers – even free Jeep ones – are expensive. Totally worth it though.
Get a SmartCat ultimate scratching post. It’s the only one our cats have ever used (they ignored the rest) and now ignore the furniture.
Thank you for the tip, Dr. Buford!
But did you clean out and seal up the Jeep?
As for Jaws, glad to see you took him in. As others have said, don’t declaw. But I would recommend getting him used to having his claws trimmed (slowly). Our previously feral cat would freak out at the vet, and they never could do it. But once he really trusted me, and I could hold him under one arm, I started getting him used to letting me touch his paws. Then to letting me push his claws out. Then i could trim the sharp ends off (just make sure not to do too much, just like your nails, you just want to trim the nail and not the finger, obviously). That kept him from accidentally scratching anyone since his claws were relatively short and relatively dull. But get good trimmers so you don’t crack/split the claw.
We adopted a cat that was already declawed, and I swear he had arthritis or something. Poor cat. And he was the sweetest and easiest cat to handle. No idea why someone declawed him.
Look what else LA has done to David. First he buys an EV and now he’s adopted a cat. What’s next, a significant other who loves janky Jeeps as much as he does?
Oh wait, this is LA. Anything can happen.
Regarding vaccinations its worth looking for low cost clinics:
https://animalcare.lacounty.gov/vaccinations/
It’s also worth mentioning cats are susceptible to developing injection induced sarcomas. Years ago I had a friend whom had lost TWO of her cats to such sarcomas. Both had received their injections in the neck which is where the sarcoma developed and why its now standard practice to give each injection not in the neck but on a different limb. Last I heard the act of injection is what’s responsible, not the vaccine itself. So it may be a matter of technique, I dunno. The probability is very low of this happening but it is nonzero.
The risk of sarcomas is greatly outweighed by the risk of disease, ESPECIALLY panleukopenia. It is HIGHLY contagious and nearly 100% lethal in kittens, even after their first vaccination. Their immune systems are not developed sufficiently until 12 weeks or so. I speak from very painful experience; keep Jaws away from strange kittens and cats until he’s old enough.
There’s going to be an emotional moment a few
months?years from now when Jaws finally gets to go on a roadtrip in the car he was born in.We have a 1 year old cat that was in the engine bay of a friends Toyota. She was ostensibly feral, but warmed up pretty much immediately and is very good with us and the kid. The older cats not so much however.
So how DID the interior of the Jeep smell?
Bad.
Worse than the xB?
Come to think of it the xB and the XJ both sound like a perfect opportunities to pick up a sponsor. There’s got to be a manufacturer of an enzyme cleaner willing to give you a few bottles of product for an honest review on those real world, worst case scenarios.
Also, the possum that had been eating his food probably didn’t help, though I’m told those eat ticks and other bugs.
FIFY.
Well they probably do injest fleas while grooming (as do cats) but I don’t think that’s intentional.
Might be worth trying to get him accustomed to a harness since he’s a feral cat. He might like to go on walks.
Definately worth trying, but start soon. We’ve leash trained our two orange brothers and they now know the word “outside”. They run to where we keep the harnesses when we say it. They do walk us more than we walk them, but the stimulation they get outside is good for them. They also never fail to pee when we’re out, so fewer pee balls in the box.
Yes. Very much yes. A neighbor during a recent camping trip had their cat on a harness and leash. The cat enjoyed being outside. Until my cat-hating dog got a whiff.
I think he’s got some Abyssinian in him, from the size of the ears.
Now the real trick will be learning to fully domesticate a feral Jeep.
Woefully underrated comment, this.
Its not much worse than the same for a ferrous Jeep.