Hard Learning

We found a stray kitten recently and ended up adopting it. It’s kind of bad timing in many ways. We have neither the time nor the money to wrap up into a cat but it looks like were doing it anyway. In another way it’s prefect timing because the Fair Piper and I had always discussed getting another pet around this time. Our dog is about middle age and it would be good to have a second pet for when the first dies (yep, we’re that pragmatic). Of course Piper never, ever wanted a cat. She has always been against cats but also long haired dogs too. She didn’t want to be bringing pet fur and allergens into work.

The other issue with having a second pet is financial. We’re attempting to save up to purchase the business and this month was bad financially. The car needed new tires, we have to pay for two different health care plans (that will probably be a story for another time), and try as we might to budget our anniversary gifts we both always over-spend. Not to mention that I’m still grappling with how to afford life insurance. It’s a lot to deal with and adding additional food costs, cat litter, and vet bills to the list is not a great idea.

But how can you resist this little fur ball:

Last week when I tried leaving for work I found a tiny kitten sitting in the driveway in front of my car. It was a particularly cold day and little thing was shivering like crazy. As I walked up to it the kitten ran in between my feet and sat there continuing to shiver. When I moved it ran under the car. He was just trying to find any protection from the freezing wind that he could. After we got it out from under the car we moved him to the front porch. It was within sight of were we found him but also provided a little bit more shelter from the wind.

When I came home from my appointment that day Piper and Firecracker had already left but the kitten was still there. Piper had left a bowl of milk for him but he hadn’t touched it. I sat in my office the rest of the day as it seemed to get colder and colder and then finally started snowing. The cat had been out there all day long and still there was no signs of it’s mother. I wandered around the neighborhood looking into every nook and cranny I could find hoping I might discovered the mother with a few other kittens but had no luck.

At this point I was pretty sure the kitten had been abandoned or something bad had happened to the mother and now the kitten was about to freeze to death on our front porch. I did the only thing I could do and brought him into the house. Earlier in the day Piper had sent me a text message warning me that if we brought the cat in then we would have to keep it. I’m still not sure what her reasoning was behind that. We could have taken it to the SPCA or asked around the neighborhood to see if anyone wanted it but instead we’ve kept it. I think that means she secretly wanted to keep it, I mean, she had to have known I was going to eventually bring the cat inside if the mother didn’t show!

So, after a trip to the vet and a trip to the pet store we now have a happy healthy kitten. Now we just need to figure out how to make it sleep at night instead of using our bed as a jungle gym!