Wiley
Finding Wiley
In September 2003, we sold our Nevada Street house, packed up our belongings and Maddie and Kona, and moved to St. George, Utah. And immediately started looking for a new house or property on which we could build. So, Tuesday, November 3rd, 2003 found us in the West Terrace subdivision looking at a possible building lot.
As we walked back to our car, something caught my eye and I looked into the middle of the road: it was a small, obviously young kitty, sitting in the middle of the street (thankfully, the street was a cul-de-sac with very little traffic). The kitty saw us look at her and came bounding over. Meowing with all her might, arching up and bumping our hands to be pet, then darting ahead of us and around us, still meowing nonstop. She was a pretty little thing, pretty skinny though.
A neighbor across the street came out and we asked her if she knew where the kitty lived. She said she didn't know but it's been hanging around since Halloween. We tried one other house that had a light on and it did not belong to them either.
We got her in the car still not really sure what we were doing or what we thought we were going to do with her. It flashed through my mind that the pound is an option but just as quickly that thought vanished. How could I tell Bil I wanted to keep her? How would Maddie and Kona react?! It turns out though, that Bil had also almost immediately decided we should keep her. We'd simply introduce her to Maddie and Kona slowly.
We took her home and whisked her into the spare bedroom as quickly as possible. But Maddie and Kona knew something was up. They sniffed and hung out at the door, while Bil and I took turns being with the kitty and being with Maddie and Kona.
In the bedroom, we started feeding her small bits of food at a time. We didn't know how long since she had last eaten and we didn't want her to get sick. Every bite we put down for her she simply inhaled, then immediately came back over to be held and pet. Her medium-long, fine, soft fur was starting to get matted and I had to use scissors to cut out something stuck in her tail fur.
Looking at her feet, I had to count her "toes". They seemed so big that I thought she might be polydactl. But no, she just needed to grow into her feet.
Another late-night trip to the grocery store got us a 2nd litter box. She knew how to use it. Good. Yup, it was to be: we had our 3rd kitty.
I took her to the vet the next day and she came out with a pretty clean bill of health, all-in-all. She had her adult teeth the vet said, so she was at least 8 months old. We scheduled her spaying and she got her first shots.
It took us three days to come up with a name for her. No other Ironman cities lent themselves to be a good name (Penticton (BC), Lake Placid (NY) Panama City (FL) etc.) Finally, we thought that she was "wily" enough, like Wile E. Coyote, to choose us and get us to adopt her. We named her Wiley.
Wiley's Temperament
Wiley is a sweetheart. She is the most likely to sleep on your lap. She purrs fairly easily and her feet will start kneading--you, the blanket, the air, whatever is around her. She's our lovebug.
Where Maddie chose Bil, and Kona chose me, Wiley is equal opportunity. She seems to like us both the same and sleeps on our bed every night.
We're very glad she came into our lives and even though we've now moved back to Bellingham, she is the single most important thing that came about from our move to Utah.