Jetsam

Baby Jetsam is the tiny man with the masterplan. On the drive home, while his siblings cowered in the back of the crate, he moved forward and started demanding attention. And he's never stopped. Jetsam is 90% lungs and 100% adorable. If he's not being held, he's probably screaming. It's probably why he was found a day or two before his siblings. Jetsam was not destined for the Junkpile life. He has always known he belongs with humans.

But simply being rescued from the junkpile wasn't enough for him since his foster parents work all day during the week. So tiny Jetsam refused to gain an ounce, despite a voracious appetite. He LOVED his special meals of kibble mush with wet food.

Despite extra meals and a round belly, Jetsam was stuck under 1lb while his siblings all gained steadily. So, I used my secret weapons.

The first few days his presence caused an uproar. Jigsaw, Sudoku, and Tetris were not happy to have their realm invaded by what they were sure was a tiny goblin. Jetsam didn't really care. He basked in Beignet's love and my parent's full time attention.

Eventually, he won over the other cats too. Jetsam's cuteness was just too irresistible.

His frequent travels to a place of delicious wonder has made him learn to enjoy car rides. In the mornings he jumps up on his travel towel and waits to get his harness on. As soon as he sees it, he starts purring. If it's the weekend and he's not picked up and strapped in, he gives you THE STINK EYE.

So we started to take him out for errands and walks. Jetsam loves going out. The only time he wiggled was during a visit to a sandwich shop- they gave a packet of meat to the puppy we were with... as soon as he smelled the cold cuts he became frantic for the food.

If Jetsam meets you, he'll probably want to be held by you. He particularly likes to be rubbed along the chin or on his ears.

I have a ridiculous number of pictures and videos of Jetsam. It's also ridiculously difficult to think about giving him up. He's just perfection. Especially the day he asked to put on Wicket's old collar. He was so proud to have a tag on. The upside of his abnormally slow weight gain is I'll get to keep him longer. The downside of it is I'll get to keep him longer. I'm already insanely in love. But I'm determined to continue to foster, which means I need to find him the best home ever! Of all time!

6/10/22 Update
I did it! I found the best home for Jetsam. I first met his father nearly 20 years ago, shortly after my school opened. We were co-workers for a short time and got along very well! Our Disney hearts and sense of humor made work fun. But he chose to move to another site as his kids were future students at my school; as a school psychologist it is better to be a little more distant to students you might some day evaluate. We kept in touch and I got to know all of his kids- wonderful young souls raised with good manners, dramatic flair, and excellent wit. They asked to meet the kittens, though the kids were told it was just to "help them socialize" and the potential adoption was a secret. Through social media, the family had fallen in love with Jetsam before they even arrived. I was cautiously hopeful. Watching them adore Jetsam (and all the others, but mostly Raff) was thrilling and nerve wracking. I was terrified to text them after they left- I didn't want to let the cat out of the bag, but they didn't make me wait long. They settled on Jetsam AND brother Raff!

They knew they might have to wait quite some time. Raff was already at weight, but Baby Jet just couldn't gain weight. A few days after their visit, he actually lost his appetite and his weight dropped quickly. It was a tense time and I worried I might lose him. We're still not sure what happened, but he eventually recovered his insatiable appetite and slowly regained the weight he lost. And even more slowly, crept closer to the magical 2lb mark.
He still loves his harness and his ferret hammock converted into a neck sling. He runs all sorts of errands with me.

Baby Jet has 2 modes. Adorable and Frantic. He can switch between them in an instant. It's pretty easy to get the transition from sleepy Jet to eating Jet... but he has switched in the opposite direction just as quickly. Jet accompanied my mom's cat, Jigsaw, to her opthamology recheck at UCD this week. We picked up food on the way home and I crammed a Spam, Egg, Unagi (eel) musubi in my mouth before we drove off. Jetsam smelled the Unagi and really felt that he had to have some. Mom had brought some cat treats and distracted him for short spurts, long enough for me to eat my food without too much interference. But when he finished the Churu, he was still hunting for more- snuffling all over in his frantic food hunt way. I pulled open my neck sling and my mom shoved him in.
Jetsam immediately curled up and passed out, his tiny feet sticking out of the bottom. I started driving, so I couldn't get pictures of that exact moment- but it was not really different from any of his other peaceful car naps. Theoretically I *could* stop taking pictures of him doing the same cute stuff... but it's cute and picture worthy every time.

Jetsam did finally hit exactly 2 lbs the day before our surgery coordinator checked the spreadsheet and he and his siblings and scheduled for surgery next week. I let him know he may now stop growing, though kittens never listen to me when I tell them that. I sure hope, no matter how much he might grow, he'll keep his oversized anime cat eyes. I love that they're way too big for his head, lol.
These pictures were taken by the petfood store employee we stopped in while waiting for our lunch order to be ready. She loved him- and sent me at least twice as many pictures that she took during our short visit, lol.