Bitty Clothes

I realized this morning that my pink leopard-spotted pyjama bottoms
were bitty clothes.

I don't think I ever told this story here so:

When Dylan first found bitties (lo those 3 long years ago), we made a
nest for them in a cardboard box, as they were only 3 weeks old. We
filled bottles with warm water to keep them warm (they can't control
their own body heat at that age) but we needed something soft to put on
the water bottles, so we used an old cloth.

WELL. Little bitties made little bitty milk-poops and that cloth was
super nasty in less than a day. So nasty that Dylan couldn't imagine
washing it in a machine with our other clothes, and it cost us $1.50
per wash load, which is an awful lot for one cloth that might not even
wash clean.

polonca12000...

So we threw it out. But now what do we do? I didn't want to use rags,
since those had been used for scrubbing and dusting, and didn't want
bitty to come in contact with any chemical residue.

WELL. Dylan had hoarded up a TON of T-shirts with rips, holes in them,
stains, etc that I'd been bugging him to throw out (he didn't want to,
and continued to wear them.) But now, not only were we about to move
in 3 weeks, not only did those clothes look bad, but bitties NEEDED
something to sleep on. The hunt was on for "bitty clothes."

I contributed 2 pairs of jeans (holes in the butt) an old night shirt,
a stained sweater and some underwear...Dylan's collection of icky
shirts was decimated. We'd go through 2 or 3 bitty-clothes a day for 2
weeks. At 5 weeks they were litter trained, and just in time because
we were about to drive them 1,000 miles cross country....

And since then, anything too worn, torn or stained to be presentable
any longer is called...bitty clothes.

polonca12000...

What a lovely story! Thanks.
Best wishes,
Polonca and Soncek

Marina...

Aww, how sweet. I have a lot of bitty clothes in my closet. Can't bring
myself to throw them out, either, though i don't wear the ratty old
things. I do sometimes line the cats' carriers with an old tee or
something, if it's too hot for the woolly blankies.

Enfilade...

Then you must need a lot of bitties...

Marina...

I'd love to have more of them, but since I don't have a car (and don't
intend to get one), I have to keep it down to two, since it's hard
enough to transport two cats on the bus. I only have two hands!

Enfilade...

Kumani and Tyche argue that you need a larger carrier, not more hands.
They travel together in a dog carrier. I suppose one person could
carry all four of ours if that person dared put Nox and Smokey in a dog
carrier together....

This statement presumes you have the arm strength to lift their fat
arses (I didn't during the ulnar entrapment...could barely lift a
single pound with that arm.)

*ahem*

My greatest /fear/ is that, once we've started to stockpile some more
bitty clothes, that we might well FIND MORE BITTIES!

So I've been cutting them up into rags pretty promptly, until the day
when we are equipped for more than four cats.

Dylan's bank became very generous with loans once he got into med
school, so he can now afford better clothes (and also has to dress
professionally for work). He still has a few bitty clothes which he
uses to work out in, but nowhere near his old collection.

Hell, he was only 22 when he became MomDad to those bitties.

Victor Martinez...

That's cute! :)

Christina Websell...

I loved this story! I wear bitty clothes all the time when I am at home
doing smelly chicken-cleaning-out chores at weekends and on my day off.
This will be another phrase that will infect the group, I suspect, like N's
"earworm" and your "bitties."

Adrian A...

Your story made me smile, obviously the mothership had made Dylan keep his
old T-shirts for just such an eventuality. ;-)

Takayuki...

Good etymology! Maybe Karen was right about kitties and bitties being
found by the people who can take care of them.

Kreisleriana...

Glad you are joining us, Tak. We're here for you, and wouldn't stand
for you staying away!

Takayuki...

What's this about? :) I'm here, and there are many parallel stories
going on here that I and everyone else are concerned about! But since
my love kitty is gone, I don't have much to add anymore. I'm just
down about it all.

Karen...

DOn't be silly; you have always contributed. And you still have lots to
contribute about Betty. Good heavens look how often I bring Grant up. I
still love talking about him. I miss him terribly, but he was such a goofy
boy that I still love talking about him. Makes me feel he's near.

Theresa

Make Levees, Not War