week 8: jiminy crickets!
this week on the little dream farm
“Did you see that?” Chris and I both said at the very same time.
It was a little black lump in the road but the headlights caught two tiny squinting eyes.
“Turn around,” I said hurriedly. “Go back!”
Chris pulled the car to the side of the road and threw on the hazards as a car went flying by us, going at least 50 miles per hour.
I opened the door slowly into the freezing cold. It had already dipped into the 20s on this late-February winter night.
“C’mere little baby,” I said slowly as I inched a few steps closer to the tree line off the side of the road where it had moved to and reached forward with my takeout container in hand, hoping some of the leftover chicken from the dinner we were on our way home from might entice the little black lump—an all-black kitten—to somehow come to me.
Fully expecting the kitten to bolt in the other direction, instead it let out a long high-pitched cry and came running right to my feet and started gobbling pieces of chicken from my fingers.
Chris grabbed a hoodie we happened to have in the trunk and we wrapped the kitten in it, got in the car, and headed the rest of the way home—just a few minutes left in our drive—while Chris continued to feed it pieces of chicken as he drove and I held onto it while it tried to escape my grip so it could devour the food.
We had to do a little shuffling once we got back to the farm—the cages were being used by a few hens we were monitoring for crop issues so we had to consolidate two hens into one bigger cage and then move the two cages down to the coop to make space in the milk house for our newest visitor, who we’d placed in a cat carrier for the time being while we did the LDF animal shuffle.
We cleaned up the cage, lined it with cozy blankets, grabbed a spare litter box we keep from our Philly cat rescue days, put some nice hot water into a little bowl that hangs on the side of the cage, and the setup was complete.
Chris cracked open a can of food we keep handy for strays and he—a little boy kitten, as we discovered now that we were in the light of the milk house—gobbled it up in under a minute, purring the entire time and pausing every few seconds to rub on either one of us.
His little meows were like cricket chirps. Cricket, I thought. Jiminy Crickets.
“Why don’t we call him Jimmy?” I said to Chris.
“Jimmy. I love it,” he said.
We covered the cage in some towels, flicked off the light, and said good night to baby Jimbo.
“This is exactly why we moved here,” Chris said as we walked back to the house. “So we could do stuff like this.”
We made a loose plan before going to bed that night:
He needed to be separated from the rest of the cats until we knew more but the goal was to bring him inside and keep him in the master bathroom if possible. We’d deal with that the following day.
The first priority was checking the Facebook groups for our village for missing and lost pets and to ask the people who lived near where we found him if anyone was missing a kitten.
If no one claimed him, the next priority would be getting him to the vet for a combo or SNAP test to rule out FIV and FELV so he could come out of the bathroom and interact with the Furmers as soon as possible for socialization.
The following morning we headed out to the milk house before the sun came up with some food in hand and learned just how hungry—and how loving—Jimmy the kitten is. He couldn’t even focus on his meal because he kept pausing to rub on us and seek our attention, purring loudly the entire time. Once he finished eating he turned into a cuddle machine. And it was over for us…heck it was already over the night before—he stole our hearts with his sweet little beady eyes, that adorable chirp, and his instant affection for humans.
I called and made a vet appointment just down the road with the vet who normally helps us out with our hens when we need prescription-strength meds. He’s a rugged guy who worked with tigers and other exotic animals in his early career, and even now in his mid-seventies, is still out team roping for fun—a true cowboy to the core. I figured I could cancel the appointment if we learned he was someone’s kitty.
Then I started on my search to see if someone was missing a precious little two-to-three-month-old black kitten, but my search yielded nothing. The woman who lived nearest to where we found him said none of the neighbors around her have cats and that she was glad we had him—they often see bobcats, coyotes, and foxes on their trail camera’s night footage.
She said she saw a tiger-striped kitten on the camera around 1am a few nights prior, and my stomach sank. I instantly wished we’d looked around for any sign of more kittens when we found Jimmy, but we were so caught off guard by seeing him in the road and then him being so friendly that I wasn’t thinking about a litter of stray kittens at all. I wondered if they’d been dumped there—I’ve been told by two rescue friends in this area it happens a lot.
Thinking about the other kitten(s), Chris and I each drove by where we found him a few times throughout the week to look for them but we’ve not found any.
Jimmy’s vet appointment on Thursday went well—a negative combo test and some dewormer meant he could safely hang out with the Furmers, and as soon as I got him home from the vet we gave him free reign of the house.
Of course, Buist and Micro were relatively fast friends and Buist is trying to lick him and clean him every chance he gets. Jimmy and Oliver were rolling around wrestling and playing together yesterday, which was awesome to see for Oliver!
Dodger, Black Kitty, and Black and White Kitty aren’t so impressed, and Little Lady is absolutely, positively pissed, which caught us totally by surprise. She seems more afraid of him than anything.
Meanwhile, Jimmy is totally unbothered by all the cats. He’s happy to eat, happy to use the litter box, happy to paw hug away on the cozy blankets we have for him, he sleeps great in the cage in the master bathroom at night for us, and he loves nothing more than cuddling Chris and I.
I’ve been saying for quite some time that I don’t want to add any more cats to our life. After years of having a handful of cats that didn’t get along, we’ve finally arrived at a place where we have seven cats who all live peacefully together and we don’t have any issues—I really haven’t wanted to mess with that.
Of course, though, we’re head over heels for this little kitten because he’s one of the most snuggly, affectionate, loving kittens I’ve ever encountered (he’s so much like Micro!) so our hearts are torn at the moment.
Selfishly, we want to keep him. But we also want to do what’s best for the Furmer crew, and that may mean finding him the absolute most perfect home so that he can bring endless joy and laughter and love to just the right person, people, or family.
For now, we’re not worrying about that part because we’re too busy falling a little more in love each day and soaking up the pure joy that comes from kitten energy and having a wee baby in our midst. The rest will work itself out like it always, always does.
It’s funny, because about an hour before we were set to head out to dinner on Monday night I almost cancelled, thinking we could just go another night or another time, but I felt the pull to just go anyhow, and we had a wonderful meal and a great time.
Maybe it was less of the pull to go to dinner and more like we were being pulled to just the right place at just the right time when a little kitten was needing some help to be rescued from the big, scary woods at night to find warmth, safety, some good grub, and a whole lot of love on our little farm.
Chris said it was like we pulled up to the side of the road and Jimmy ran to me and said, “Umm, excuse me, is this bus headed to the Little Dream Farm? If so, I’d like to get on it! Oh, and by the way, do you have any chicken? Because I really like chicken!”
Isn’t that absolutely adorable?!
Since we’re in cat mode this week, I thought I’d share a few cat-related favorites—things we absolutely LOVE for our Furmers and think you’d love for your kitty babes, too.
We’re SO proud…last month FIVE of our followers swapped their cats to Darwin’s raw cat food. After hearing about the Furmers good health report cards from the vet, it was a no-brainer to get their cats on the best food on the market today. We’ve had the Furmers on Darwin’s since 2021 and we can’t say enough good things. We love this company, the Furmers love their food, and we’re so pleased with all the positive health benefits associated with making the swap to raw. If you’d like to be next to make the switch, use our code “FURMERS” at checkout so you can get a 10-pound trial order for $14.95. When you use that code, Darwin’s turns around and donates your $14.95 to Project Meow—the cat rescue we used to work with in Philly. Every month the rescue’s president sends me a copy of the email with the check from Darwin’s and it makes us so happy to still be able to give back in this way. Message me with any questions for your cat or dog!
If you don’t have this toy, just add to cart and order it now. And while you’re at it, add these replacement scratchers to your order so you have them on hand each time one wears out (which for us is every few months). One of our precious followers sent this toy to us as a farm housewarming gift and the Furmers absolutely love it. BeeJay used to sleep on it. Little Lady loves to play with it at 4 in the morning while Chris is still sleeping, and baby Jimmy figured out straight away that it’s his favorite toy.
We get asked all the time how we keep our house so clean with seven (ahem…eight) cats and I gotta tell you there aren’t many secrets—we just keep after it. One thing that I 10/10 recommend is this fur lifter tool that I think anyone who has animals must own…we use it on everything and we’ve had it for four years now. I use it several times a week, especially on the couches, rugs, runners, and all the places where the cats sleep. I also like to go over our bedding with it before we wash it to keep as much hair out of the washer/dryer as possible. Trust me, grab this tool and thank me later!
Speaking of keeping our house clean, the first thing people tell us when they come to our house is, “I can’t believe you have seven (again, ahem…eight) cats and it doesn’t smell like you have any at all!” We take great pride in that! We’ve always used this brand of cat litter and we only use the unscented version. Don’t bother with the lightweight version…it’s not nearly as good. This litter does not create dust, clumps like a dream, doesn’t smell weird (scented cat litter is SO bad for your cat’s health!) and it’s so affordable…we highly recommend it!
*Note: Not all, but some of these links are affiliate links. That’s no matter to you, as it costs you nothing. However, if you make a purchase, we -may- receive a teeny weeny commission.
You lucky cat-magnets! The cat distribution system is working!! Lucky Jimmy...I hope Little Lady will realize there is love and attention to go around... Welcome Home Jimmy! Xoxo
Jimmy is adorable! By the way Ive had that cat toy for years and recently ordered a pkg of 6 replacements through Amazon. The interest for it comes and goes. It’s currently LOVED by my old man Otto. (13 yo tabby) ♥️🥰