Besides, she loved dogs, too. Planned on getting one in the future, but was holding off because one of her cats was easily frightened - her family in the upstairs flat had two very cute dogs that scared the bejeezus out of the poor kitty, so a dog would just have to wait.
Plus, two pets at a time were a handful to care for as it was. The status quo was fine for now, the woman told herself.
Her family thought otherwise. They'd show the woman clippings of cute kittens, taped news segments about homeless cats up for adoption, tell her about the sad little stray they'd seen in the neighborhood. Each time, the woman said no more cats for me. She had two, after all, and one more would put her firmly in crazy cat lady territory. Besides, her house could barely contain the two she had. Where would she put another?
Then, one December day as she came home, she noticed a small kitten at the feet of a neighbor - a neighbor who had two very big (but very friendly and beautiful) Doberman Pinschers. He was playing with the kitten as the Dobermans played in the yard.
"I didn't know he liked cats," she thought to herself as she went into her house.
That night, the woman told her sister what she saw, and how she was surprised to see her dog loving neighbor with such a friendly kitten.
"Was it a striped cat?" asked the sister. It was.
"I don't think that cat belongs to him," she said, telling the woman that the little kitten had been in the wheel well of her car the day before, shielding itself from the cold and snow. When she and her boyfriend saw the kitty, he tried to play with them the same way the woman saw the cat playing with the neighbor. They tried to catch him to bring him in, but he ran away.
"Friendliest cat I've ever seen," said the boyfriend. "You should take him in."
The woman refused. She already had two, remember? Still, if she found him, she'd take him to a shelter because no animal deserved to be abandoned in the cold...if the neighbor hadn't already taken the cat in, of course.
"When you find him," they told the woman, "You'll want to keep him."
She brushed it off, thinking nothing of it...until the next day when, coming home from work, she walked up on her porch, opened her front door, and suddenly felt something brush against her leg.
It was the friendly striped kitten.
"MMMRRROWW!" He flipped on his back, batted at her ankle with his front paws, and seemed to smile before flipping over and started walking across her threshold.
"Hey!" the woman exclaimed, shooing the kitten back. He ducked her hands waving him back, and ran off the porch.
"Hey cat! I didn't mean leave!" she called out, but the kitty had disappeared into the darkness. She went in the house, grabbed a carrier out of the closet, put some food in a bowl and went back to her front porch.
"Kitty!" she called out, placing the bowl of food on the porch and the open carrier on a bannister. "Here kitty!"
Nothing. Maybe she'd frightend him. She called out again, but tried a different approach?
"Mmmrrroww...." she said hesitantly.
It was the magic word. The striped kitten ran back up on the porch and, in a moment of curiosity, hopped up on the bannister and walked right inside the carrier. When she closed the door, he didn't make a sound, but he did stick out his paw and bat at her playfully, almost like he was giving her a high five.
She took the carrier inside and sat it on a high cabinet. Her two cats came over to her, looked up at the carrier, then at her.
"He's not staying," she said as she called the local Humane Society. No one answered.
The two cats shrugged and strolled away, as if to say, "Yeah, right."
She then called her mother to tell her she'd caught the kitten and was about to go to the shelter to turn him in.
"He's so sweet," she said, "and he needs a home. You should keep him."
"He's not staying," said the woman. "I already have two cats."
"Okay," said the mother in a tone that said, "Yeah, right," then she offered to ride with her to the shelter.
They packed up the kitty in the car, and drove to the nearby shelter. Each time the kitten howled, the mother told the woman that the kitty was saying, "Mommy! Take me home!"
"He's not staying," said the woman. "I already have two cats."
"Why can't you have three?" said the mother.
"Because I just can't," said the woman. The cat howled again. It did kind sound like he was saying, "Mommy...."
When they got to the shelter, they found it was closed. Had been for about 30 minutes. They had to go home.
"I'll keep him overnight," said the woman, "then I'll take him to the shelter tomorrow on the way to work. He's cute and friendly, so he's bound to find a home."
"What are you going to name him?" said the mother. "He's already found a home."
"He's not staying," said the woman. "I can't have a third cat."
"You can have anything you want," said the mother.
"MMMRRROWW!" cried the kitten, pressing his paws against the carrier door.
When the woman got home, she put him in a spare bedroom away from the other cats. She put out a small aluminum pan filled with litter, some food, a bowl of water, a couple of toys, and turned on a radio so there would be sound in the room to comfort him. She then decided to check the kitten for fleas or any injuries. When she picked up the kitten, he purred loudly.
She noticed the grey striped kitten was about as long as her forearm. She noticed how soulful his eyes looked. She realized he didn't play with any of the toys, eat any of the food, or drink any of the water when she was in the room with him. His attention was squarely on her.
"You can't stay, you know," the woman said to the kitten, who replied by climbing up her arm, nuzzling his head into her neck, and purring into her ear.
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| Hard as I tried, I could not resist those sweet eyes. |
Two days later, (after finding out that the kitten most likely would've been put down had I made it to the shelter before it closed because of an overpopulation problem), I found myself getting him checked out at the vet (including making an appointment to get him neutered the next month), buying all sorts of extra kitty gear, acclimating him to living with two older cats (who took to him right away), and having a nametag made to go on a collar picked out to coordinate with his striped coat.
Just in time for Christmas, I officially became a crazy cat lady, and Muffin officially had a new home alongside Cal (the adopted shelter cat) and Bucky (the jittery Siamese who was also a rescued stray).
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| Meet the Fuzzy Bunch, (from left to right): Muffin, Cal, and Bucky |
Best Christmas gift I've ever received. Best one he ever received, too.
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