So, I'm now thinking that the kitten is probably going to go to a rescue organization tomorrow. This is the sensible, right thing to do, but that's not the actual reason that's pushing me into doing it. The actual reason is:

He's got diarrhea.

Now, that's a terrible reason on its own to send him off for adoption, but it's quite a complication here in the apartment and the difficulty of dealing with it is enough to point out what a mistake keeping him would be.

It's a problem for several reasons:

One, it's a potential mess. So he's locked into the bathroom to keep him from depositing little bits of runny cat poop wherever he happens to sit. For the actual business, he's using the litter box like a trooper and I have no complaints. But in between trips to the litter box he often has a little bit of poop sticking out his little kitty ass, and this is more than I care to deal with.

Two, it's a health risk for the other cats. I don't know what's causing the diarrhea, and if it's something that will go away on its own after he's eaten real cat food for a couple more days, or if it's worms and the treatment he got at the vet will make it go away and it's just taking its time, or if it's giardia - in which case he most definitely can't share the litter box with the other cats, or be near them really since they can pick it up from him by grooming him. Urg.

Three, since he's in the bathroom, I had to move the big litter box into the hallway where Cosmo and Jester could get to it, but where I also have a tendency to trip over it. Luckily I haven't yet planted my foot in the litter box, but I think that's merely a matter of time.

So the hassle of dealing with a kitten with diarrhea is pushing me over the edge, and I'll probably call around tomorrow morning and find out what I have to do to find him a new adoptive home.

He's darling, cuddly, purrs a lot, and really likes people. He's just got a little kitten health problem that I really don't need to deal with right now, which makes it easier to make the hard decision to take him to a rescue league. He's cute enough he'll get adopted within a week, I'm sure, so I don't have to feel bad about it.

Rationalize, rationalize, rationalize.

I feel bad because he adopted me, not the other way around, but I'm already over my cat limit and I really can't deal with a third litter box and different food, and all that. Plus I don't think the other cats are too happy to see him.

Eh.

(2000-06-11)