Have Geek Will Travel

This is my new little buddy Lex.

He and 2 siblings were found abandoned at the carnival in Metropolis, IL after the annual  Superman Celebration this June.

Thankfully all kitties were adopted- and I was lucky enough to take Lex home with me.

I had gone up to Metropolis to hang out and help out my friend Tim Brown with the film festival he was running during the weekend long  Superman Celebration (I’ll have a full HGWT blog or two about this year’s celebration soon). When we stopped by Creations The Florist to say goodbye to the celebration’s two co-chairs, Lisa Gower and Karla Ogle, I got to meet Lex- who was unnamed at the time. Wasn’t sure if he was a “Lois” or a “Clark“. 😉

As soon as I held him he climbed up to my shoulders and rubbed his head against my chin whiskers. After he curled up in my arms I knew I had to make the call to my wife Nicki about adding him to our family. He looks so much like our first kitty Zayne, who passed away a few years ago from FIP, and is about the same age and size as he was when we adopted him. After texting Nicki a few shots of the little one she agreed to let me bring him home with me.

Lisa and Karla gave me a cat-carrier with a litter box and some food for the road trip back to Mississippi. After a stop at the Metropolis Chamber of Commerce and a few quick pics at the Superman statue in Superman Square we headed out. He had been fairly quite until we were leaving the city limits. After I came to a straight stretch of road I let him out and again he climbed up to my shoulders, and rode like that for quite a while.

Tim and I stopped by Lambert’s Cafe in Sikeston, MO on the way back home. It’s a tradition to eat there either before or after the celebration weekend. Tim had called earlier to see if it was okay to bring the kitty with us, and they said they would keep an eye on him for us in their office. About an hour or so later when we got there I hated to wake Lex up- he was snoring a bit. As I got off the interstate he had climbed down into my lap and was out! Didn’t take him long to do the same after we left the restaurant and got back on I-55.

Nicki warmed up to him right away, and he to her! He seemed to like to sleep in her arms as much as he had mine. He had a bit of eye-gunk, and was obviously a bit malnourished and possibly dehydrated. Nicki agreed to take him to the vet the next morning to get him checked out before we introduced him to our other cats- Harley Quinn (white face, black mask, and crazy) and Jarael (she and Zayne were named after characters from the “Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic” comic by our friend John Jackson Miller).

Lex only weighed 1.3lbs at his first visit and you could easily feel his ribs, but seemed to be in good health otherwise. The vet gave him some gel for his eyes (which worked wonders!), some preventative worming meds to be safe, and said to bring him back in a week for his first shots. He also confirmed that our kitty was a “Clark”, and told my wife that we were going to have our hands full. Boy was he right! That’s when Nicki thought of calling him “Lex“, and it stuck.

He is a handful, but is a \S/uper little guy, though. We decided to keep him in the “Fortress of Solitude” (also known as the master bathroom) for a few days until he had gotten his shots, and the girls had gotten theirs updated, too.

We also wanted to get their claws trimmed just in case their first encounters didn’t go so well. Were afraid they might not think he’s as cute as we- and he think he is.

We would let him hang out in my Batcave studio while I drew, and my wife’s Fangirl office while she played video games when out of the master bath. He an the other cats would sniff and paw at each other under the doorways.

Occasionally one of the girls would hiss. For the most part he just seemed to like to hang out, explore, eat, and attack our feet.

The next week we loaded up all three cats into my Batmobile and headed around the corner to the County Seat Animal Hospital to see Dr. Pattberg. The girls like our vet, but aren’t so thrilled about riding in the car. Lex didn’t seem to mind.

Everything went well at the vet’s office, and we learned that Lex had become twice the man (almost) that he was a week ago- up to 2.1lbs! Harley is still our heavyweight weighing in at 18lbs, and Jarael is our middleweight at around 12lbs. Once everyone had their shots and the girls got their nails did, we took them home and later picked up Lex a new collar and name tag. I was hoping for a Superman collar, or even a purple or green one but no luck. Nicki jokingly pointed out a camouflaged collar. I told her, “No- I haven’t been living in Mississippi THAT long…yet!” Got him a grey/navy/white striped one, but will look for a more geekish one.

The time finally came to formally introduce everyone. The girls just weren’t really sure what to make of this tiny fast furry ball of energy, and kept their distance mostly. A warning hiss here and there was heard whenever he would get too close and maybe a quick swat of a paw, but nothing too physical. I was really proud of our two girls.

Jarael seemed to warm up to him the quickest. She and Zayne were both adopted at the same time and were very close. She took it very hard when he passed away and her personality changed a lot after his death.

This boy does take his life in his own paws sometimes with his drive by sneak attacks, but she’s been pretty good about putting up with her new little brother’s high-jinx…and there’s a lot to put up with!

Harley Quinn on the other hand, wasn’t so quick to bond. She’s very territorial, and has been known to hiss at other cats she sees outside. Jarael has a quick left and a mean right so Harley tends to keep her attitude in check around her older adopted sister. With Lex she tried to keep her distance and would sniff places he had been. Only rarely would she get close enough to smell him or let him smell her, and a hiss usually followed.

Even so, she slowly got closer and closer to him. She and Jarael started playing chase with Lex throughout the house, and they’d take turns trying to scare each other. I even caught Harley and Lex playing patty-cake on the kitchen floor the other night.

He’s really made himself at home here with us, and even takes cat-naps behind me on the couch, or will curl up in bed with us to snuggle at night.

He’s super-lovey when not attacking our feet or his new siblings. I didn’t think we’d ever have a third cat in the house, but can’t imagine it now without him. It’s definitely the most exercise I’ve seen the girls do around here for quite a while!

He’s extremely fast and acrobatic, but not very graceful. Good thing he’s cute! Now if we could just get him to get a job to help out with the additional food and litter costs..!

Welcome to Mississppi, Lex- hope you like living here with us!

Lin

PS- adopt rescue pets if you have the chance. Am so glad we did!