My brother and sister-in-law, Rob and Lindsey, live, quite simply, in the middle of nowhere in Belgium. There isn’t a house in sight and the closest neighbors are a few cows. This, apparently, doesn’t keep them from receiving some rather unusual visitors.
Here was the first one.
(photo courtesy of Lindsey)
This is Chien Chien. He speaks french and has his bangs highlighted (I’m not actually making that up).
Chien Chien appeared on Rob and Lindsey’s doorstep one cold morning in January. They took him in, cared for him, and tried in vain to located his owner. Meanwhile, the little guy was getting quite comfortable and attached. He would follow Lindsey around the house, enjoyed the warmth of a nice house and never liked being alone, much less outside for very long.
This lasted for about five days, until one morning the sun finally made an appearance and the weather started warming up. Linds let the dog out….and he never came back again. Just like that he was off on his next adventure, and Rob and Linds were left baffled and amused by what they now call their gypsy dog.
Fast forward to early August.
Halfway through my time in Belgium I woke up one morning to a very persistant cat’s meowing. Upon investigation we discovered that, low and behold, a tiny little kitten, no more than 4 weeks old, had mysteriously arrived at the house.
The little thing was scared to death and HUNGRY, so we fed her some tuna and water and left her alone.
The next morning Rob got up and left for work. While waiting for the front gate to open before driving away from the house he heard a little kitty cry. Assuming that the cat was hiding in the bushes he drove off without a second thought. SEVERAL MILES LATER, while at a stop sign, he heard the cat again. He got out of the car, pops the trunk, and- low and behold- finds kitty hiding near the engine. A local Belgium man comes over and is slightly mystified when Rob keeps pointing into the engine and repeating “Petit chat! Petit Chat!" (Can’t you just imagine? This poor man must have thought my brother was off his rocker. Either that or really messing up his french words!) Finally the man looks in, sees kitty, and exclaimed, “PETIT CHAT!!!"
They finally coaxed the little kitty from the car onto the ground, but as soon as my brother started the vehicle up to move it out of the way the kitten jumped BACK into the engine! After a bit of strategically placed pokes they got the kitten out again, but this time she hightailed it into the neighboring woods and out of sight. Rob, who was extremely late for work at this point, had no choice but to drive off and leave her.
Fast forward to that afternoon, when Linds and Allie drove down to the woods just to see if the kitty was still alive and close by. They made some noises near the edge of the woods and, sure enough, the little thing poked it’s head out! Meanwhile, the same random Belgium man (this guy’s really got to find a hobby) comes out of the house to investigate. "Petit Chat!" Lindsey told him. "Crazy Americans" is what I’m sure he was thinking. He came over, lured in the cat with some food, and then dropped a huge net over it once it got close enough! Needless to say, kitty was NOT pleased, but they were able to get her in a box and return her home again safely.
The following days involved us feeding her (him? we don’t know), and slowly trying to win some trust.
"Aunt Britt, I think that if I get close enough Kitty will let me hold her. I’m pretty it will work."
Allie was more than thrilled to have a little something to love on. Kitty? Not so much.
Ah, the sting of rejection.
She still likes to hide in car engines- and odd habit that she will hopefully grow out of.
The good news? Kitty is a mouser, so she is welcome to stay as long as she pleases.
Which might actually be a while, because a couple days ago Allie walked into the kitchen holding a very calm, strangely content little kitten. Looks like someone made a new best friend…
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