Pet for a Day

Pretty much since the boys could say mama they have been asking for a pet. Mostly they want a dog but I think they will take anything they can get. Well their wish came true - for a couple days at least. One day while Jimmy and Ben were at school Luke and I could hear a sad meowing outside of our window. We looked out and saw this scrawny, skinny, dirty little kitten all alone and so scared. When the boys came home we decided to go outside and look for it. So when we found the kitten, we scared it so bad that it ended up running in one of the buildings. We had it cornered and I was debating in my mind what I should do. On one hand this poor kitten really needed some TLC and a safe place to go. One the other hand, I really am not a cat person and it is against the rules to have pets in our apartment. (Up to this point I have been able to use that as an excuse when the boys start to beg me for a dog.) But, in the end, my heart got the better of me and I couldn't let this poor cat go out in the wild all alone and starving. So I put it in a cardboard box and brought it inside. I immediately began making phone calls to local shelters and I was told that they were all full and couldn't take in any more kittens. Luckily, Jim has a friend at school that volunteers at one of these animal shelters and she came over to look at the cat. She determined that the kitten was a few months old and in fairly good health so she convinced her shelter to take him in. I don't know if he has been adopted yet but a couple weeks after we found the cat we went to the shelter to visit him and he was doing great. He was still a little skittish but was playing with the other cats and looked healthy and happy.

When the kitten was with us we tried to take it out of the box to take some pictures. Ben was holding him and he jumped out of his arms and ran under the couch. Yikes! Jim and I were worried that it was going to get stuck but he got free and ran straight to the bathroom. There was water in the tub from one of the boys' bath and the kitten jumped right into the water. I don't know a lot about cats but I always thought that they didn't like the water. This kitten was different. He actually liked it so Jim and I just kept him in the water and gave him a good wash while we had the chance. The poor thing was covered in little black bugs that we were able to wash away. He was so much happier after his bath. We ended up naming him Tubbs. I thought the name fit him perfectly.

I let Tubbs hang out in my bathroom while we were waiting to take him to the shelter and he really liked hiding in the cupboard with all the toilet paper. He looked so cute in there! My toilet paper was pretty much thrashed after that but it was worth it for Tubbs to have a comfortable place to rest.
It was fun to have another addition to our family for a couple of days. I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but I think I would like to have a kitten one day. Unfortunately they have to grow up to be cats, but at least they will catch the mice. I have a serious mice phobia so that's reason enough for me to own one.