Patient Zero

He goes with the furniture!

For me, the 2015 Kitten Season was kicked off by Patient Zero. In a bid to not get attached, I figured I would just number the kittens as they arrived. The first catch of the season was seized from under some shrubbery near one of the pools in the condo complex with the help of my accomplices Jennie and Brian. The other litter mate slipped away and I was never able to spot it again, but Patient Zero stuck out like a sore thumb.

It isn't every day that you find what looks like a Tonkinese kitten hanging out in the shrubs. Tonkinese is a crossbreed of a Siamese cat with a Burmese cat. With the addition of the white paws which are not a Tonkinese trait, and the slight swirl of marble tabby that was faintly visible in the cream fur, I took a guess that this kitten was likely a Natural Point Tonkinese crossed with tabby. Mom was a white and black spotted cat, so I'm guessing she had a pretty sexy hookup with an exotic pal one night. They other kitten was a grey tabby, so I'm guessing mom got around a bit. Cat genetics are utterly fascinating.

A fine art companion.

This kitten was hissy as hell and would growl and take swipes at me. However, he was only about 5 weeks old, so it was mostly just cute. He settled down in a few days and found that life on the inside did not suck even a little bit. After the bathing and de-fleaing and then the forcible lovings and squishy food, Patient Zero got with the program pretty quickly. After one particular bath session, the little fellow totally passed out on my friend Lisa B's lap. I can her the hissy cat whisperer.

That is a happy kitten.

One thing that I knew for certain: a kitten this gorgeous was going to find a home very, very quickly. One sad truth of fostering strays and feral cats is that exotic looking kittens or ones with striking markings often get snapped up quickly, while tiger tabby cats and black cats languish in foster and sanctuary care.

This worked in favor for Patient Zero and he found an adoptive mom rather quickly. I am told that he is king of his domain and is regularly spoiled by his new mom. With his ice blue eyes, Patient Zero was renamed Sub Zero in his new home. Sub Zero was our first placement success of the 2015 season.

Here's a recent picture from his mom, Angel:

Being so handsome is exhausting!