Tag Archives: kitten

A nameless kitten’s story

Back in March, a couple of blocks from home, I saw a kitten sitting outside of a vacant lot. It was about six weeks old and absolutely adorable. I tried to approach it but it scrambled under the fence and there was no way I could follow. A couple of days later I saw it again, and I asked a shopkeeper whether or not that kitten had a human. The man told me that, as far as he knew, it had been abandoned. A few more days went by and I saw it again. This time I tried to catch it, but again it managed to slip away from me. I was about to go away for a couple of weeks, and I didn’t have anyone lines up to look after such a kitten, plus I knew that bringing it home would make my dog jealous and I knew she was going to have enough trouble dealing with the fact that I was going to be gone for two weeks anyway, so I reluctantly walked away.

Anyway, I figured that the kitten was so adorable that someone was bound to adopt it in my absence, but I was determined that, if the kitten was still there by the time I came back, I was going to adopt it myself. Sure enough, when I came back two weeks later the kitten was still there… dead just inside that fence. That day I learned a pretty harsh lesson about taking action and doing the right thing when the opportunity presents itself and not when it suits my schedule. I guess that was one of the reasons why, when a dog that was either lost or abandoned followed me home a few weeks ago, I didn’t hesitate to take him in. In the two blocks he had followed me it had become painfully obvious that that dog didn’t have a clue of how to cross a street and after what had happened with that kitten I dreaded the idea that the next time I walked out the door I would find that he had been run over by a car or something like that. So here he is, in part because of that nameless kitten, a kitten I failed to help, but one that taught me a lesson I hope never to forget.

Hard to believe it’s been a year

A year ago today I lost one of my best friends. No, he wasn’t human but that doesn’t mean that he was less than human. Six months ago, in one of my first posts I featured some photos of his final year, today I am sharing a few of his first one (you can see the other batch of photos here)… and yes, even though it’s been a year ‘already’ it doesn’t really feel like an already at all. In fact I still miss him like crazy!

So, without more ado, here is the little fellow back when he was really little:

The King of the Hill
The King of the Hill
A little mischief
A little mischief
PUT THAT CAMERA AWAY AND GET ME DOWN FROM HERE!!!
HUMAN, PUT THAT CAMERA AWAY AND GET ME DOWN FROM HERE!!!
The Mighty Would-be Hunter (not that he ever killed anything)
The Mighty Would-be Hunter (not that he ever managed to kill anything)

And now for a little family background:

The Little Fellow's Mother (yes, I'm still missing her too)
The little fellow’s mother (yes, I’m still missing her too)
Two of His Brothers
Two of his brothers (er, yes, if I hadn’t been there when he was born I too would have assumed that the little fellow was adopted)

Okay, That’s it for today. I apologize for the overdose of cute, but this little fellow was my almost constant companion for close to fourteen years and today hit me hard.