TINY TIM

On September 27th I adopted a new family member. His name is Tiny Tim, Timmie to his friends.

Since all I know about Timmie's birth is that he is around two years old we will make September 27th his birthday. His coming to us was a rebirth of sorts.

Tiny Tim was named Samson by his previous owner, who had also rescued him. The name seemed incongruous to me from the get go. Timmie is one of the smallest adult cats I've been around. I tried to use the name but couldn't. As I was cuddling him, the second day he was here, the name Tiny Tim just popped into my head. I started calling him Timmie. He responded immediately. It was like it had always been his name.

Timmie really lucked out in that he didn't have to go to a shelter. I found him through word of mouth. Timmie's previous owner was returning to California and was unable to take him along. The kennel owner where I take Koty knew I was looking for a kitty, told me about him and, voila!

When he arrived I set Timmie up in my bedroom and bathroom. I put a child gate on the door to give Koty and Timmie a little time to get acquainted. Timmie headed directly under the bed and there he stayed. Throughout the afternoon I tired to coax him out but to no avail. That evening when I went to bed I tried again. Nada.

I read awhile and then turned out the light. It bothered me no end to think of that little creature, in hiding, all alone in a strange place. After about 15 minutes I could take it no longer. I turned on the light and got down on the floor. He was just out of reach. I decided to try a little food as bait. I sprinkled some in front of him and he went for it. As soon as he had nibbled up the bits he slunk off to the bathroom all on his own. It was like the food was the all clear signal.

I could here him scrabbling in is food and scratching in his litter. I turned out the light feeling much better. A short while later I felt a very slight disturbance on the bed. The next thing I knew Timmie had lay down beside me. There he spent the night and every night since.

Timmie was supposed to be alright with dogs but he doesn't much care for Koty's steely blue stare. So we are still working on getting them comfortable with each other. Timmie runs. Koty chases. Timmie hasn't figured out yet that Koty couldn't catch him if he wanted to. Koty, 91 in human years, isn't quite as fast as he once was. Timmie could jump up on almost anything and be out of harms way. For whatever reason Timmie isn't making any effort to win Koty over. As soon as Timmie sees Koty he takes off running, literally flying over the gate into the bedroom.

I'm sure we'll get things sorted out over time. Meanwhile, it's awfully nice to have Timmie with us. He is a sweet an loving spirit and makes our place just that much more special.

Tiny Tim

©Kinsey Barnard