On  September 24, 2009, around 11:30 at night, my friend Beverly Adams was sitting on my living room floor giving Dillon a massage.  She looked up through the window onto the front porch and said, "Your cat wants in".  I told her I didn't have a cat, and there was certainly no cat there when Beverly arrived an hour previous.  I opened my front door and this little tabby cat was making a mad dash inside.   I shooed her back outside and figured she'd go home. But she was there the next morning.  And afternoon.  And evening.  She was there despite hours of torrential rainstorms during the night.  Not only was she extremely friendly towards me, but she fearlessly went up to Dillon and Bravo and rubbed against their chests.  She didn't even consider running from them.  I held out for 2 more days, petting her but not feeding her and not allowing her inside.   As endearing as she was, I was very hesitant to keep her (didn't even feed her in hopes she'd go back to where she came from) because Surge has such high prey drive that I didn't want to take a chance on him inadvertently hurting her. But she had never shown any inclination to run from the dogs and in fact had gone to great lengths to get into the dog yard and start rubbing up against Surge. He has been VERY gentle with her and doesn't seem to want to bother much with her in the house.


I still wasn't sure I really needed a cat but the following Monday morning. 4 days after she arrived, I had fed her on the back deck, and about 5 minutes later there was The Kitty on the kitchen counter sticking her nose into the dog food bowls. Yes, she had learned to use the dog door and came in and made herself right at home.   I tried to get our rehab vet's office to take her (they have a great success rehoming strays) but they'd had a box of 3 kittens dropped off overnight.  Being a responsible pet owner I figured if she was going to be interacting with my dogs she needed a rabies shot ASAP.  So off to the rehab vet she went, and while Bravo was in the water treadmill The Kitty got a thorough exam, was blood tested negative for feline leukemia and feline AIDS, got a rabies shot, was de-wormed, and got her first vaccination. She passed her exam with flying colors, and the vet agreed with me that she was about 6 months old so I'm giving her the birthdate of April 1st.

She has more than made herself at home. She likes to sleep on the back of the sofa, but right now is lying at my feet under my desk (I'm completely surrounded, a cat at my feet and a Belgian on either side of me!). She is an absolutely WONDERFUL lap-kitty and also a great bed-buddy, curled up next to me in bed at night.  When she was spayed she quickly became a favorite of the clinic staff, who said she was one of the friendliest cats they had ever seen, and reportedly she spent a fair amount of time on various laps.  She has even charmed my friends who are self-proclaimed "not cat people", and made herself the official "indoor supervisor" when I was having work done on my house, following the workmen from room to room.



I started out calling her "The Kitty"..........as in "where's The Kitty?", "leave The Kitty alone", "don't pester The Kitty", "that's The Kitty's food", etc. but after consulting an animal communicator I've modified it to "Miss Kitty" - rather fitting, as I already have a "Dillon".


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