Fargo man rescues kittens

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WEST FARGO — At the sound of Jim Johnson’s call, Lucky and Buddy come running.

Johnson’s voice is catnip to the pair of kittens rescued in October from a window well buzzing with wasps.

By day, the two kittens follow the West Fargo man around the house and occasionally accompany him in a cat carrier to his construction jobs.

By night, they crawl onto his chest and purr away.

“They think I’m their mama, that’s what’s so crazy,” Johnson said.

The two kittens and a sibling were abandoned by their mother when Johnson discovered them in October as he was dropping off tile to a cabin near Detroit Lakes, Minn.

The kittens were covered in what Johnson initially thought were hornets, but he later learned were wasps.

Johnson was stung about 20 times as he reached into the window well and rescued them one by one.

“I don’t think it was heroic,” Johnson said.

One of the kittens didn’t make it, but Johnson nursed the other two back to health using special milk and tiny bottles.

The appropriately-named Lucky has the black and white markings of a Holstein. Buddy, the more sociable of the two, is a brown tabby with white paws and belly.

The kitties have tiny marks on their ears where they were stung. Lucky is missing some fur above his eye and about 2-1/2 inches of his tail.

“They got hammered, you know,” Johnson said.

Johnson initially planned to find homes for the kittens, and received 15 offers from people who heard the story from media coverage.

But the kittens formed a special bond with Johnson, and even get along with the family’s other cats and dogs — all rescue animals.

Johnson’s wife, Marianne, said the kittens definitely prefer her husband.

“They really like him,” she said. “They kind of know that he helped them, I think.”

Lucky likes to snuggle in Johnson’s armpit and Buddy climbs up to nibble on his ear.

“How can you give up something like this?” Johnson said.

Dalrymple is a reporter for The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, which is owned by Forum Communications Co.

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