Oy

Remember last year when I led everyone to believe we had added kittens to our family? I thought I was so clever and funny. What a fun little prank to play. Well, now the joke's on me.

Oy.

One evening a few weeks ago, we heard the tiny cries of a kitten outside our bedroom window. It was so cute and little. The four of us went outside to check it out and see if we could find the mother. Raymond walked around but saw no other cats. The poor little kitty was very skittish and nervous. She (we think it is a she) kept hiding under my car and was afraid of us when we tried to pet her.

I don't like animals. I don't want pets. I've said that before. I think kittens are really cute but they turn into cats. I'm not a big fan of cats. Kittens can be really cute and fun but cats.... they're usually lazy and don't really do much. I did feel bad for this poor kitty with no mom around. We got some water for her and gave her some lunch meat. I know, I know, bad idea. But I really honestly didn't think she'd be around in the morning.

While we were outside with the kitty, our next-door neighbor, a really sweet lady, came out and started talking quietly to Raymond. I couldn't hear what she said. It was already 8:30 pm and past the boys' bedtime so we rounded them up and put them to bed. Raymond then told me what our neighbor said. The cat, apparently, was put on our property by the neighbor two houses down. The lady saw the guy carrying the kitten across her yard and witnessed him putting it down between her house and ours. She was afraid it was dead and sent her husband out to check on it. (The guy is rather strange and kinda creeps me out, and it makes me even more creeped out that she'd think he'd put a dead cat in our yard. She knows him a lot better than I do, having been his neighbor for many years.)

So here we have this cat, who we now know does not really have a home. Maybe the guy wanted us to have it and hoped we'd keep it... I don't know why he didn't just knock on the door and ask us...

Raymond really wanted to keep it but I was very unsure.

Oy.

We went to bed, just waiting to see what happened the next morning. Raymond and I never heard it crying during the night so we figured it ran away. As soon as the kids got up, they wanted to go outside and see if the cat was still there. I let them, and sure enough, she was there under the car. The kids tried to get her to come out and play. Jonah thought the cat needed a name, even if we weren't keeping her, which they knew was a big possibility. Nathan wanted to name her Bee Hunter, because he and his little friends like to hunt bees and kill them, don't ask me why, and they call themselves Bee Hunters. Jonah thought for a moment, not really liking that name, and said sweetly, "I think we should name it Cutie because it is so cute." That made me smile. Awwwww!

Raymond called and texted a few people to see if anyone we knew wanted a kitten. No one did. *sigh* I felt bad for the cat and knew that if we took it to the animal shelter it most likely wouldn't live. I'm not so mean that I want all animals to die, I just don't want them to live anywhere near me.

Oy.

I reluctantly agreed that if we couldn't find anyone to take her in that day that we would keep her. She'd have to live outside in the backyard and be an outside pet if we did. The kids were cautiously getting attached to her and played with her all day. They knew we were trying to find her a home and knew we weren't for sure going to keep her. I thought we had a serious potential home for her but in the end it didn't pan out. Raymond was getting more excited by the minute.

Well, I made the mistake of posting on Facebook about our little dilemma. It was a very bad idea. I got a few comments that I'd be the meanest mom in the world if I denied my children this pet kitty and a few people were taking pleasure in all this, laughing at it, knowing I'd said I'd never have a pet. Yes, I was eating my words and getting raked over the coals in the process. Ugh. If you didn't already know this about me, you should understand that I am about as stubborn as can be. All of the comments made me want to get rid of the cat ASAP. Everyone knows I don't want pets, why on earth am I even thinking about this? I thought. It made me want to strengthen my resolve to NEVER have pets. Why was I going back on my word?Raymond knew from the get-go before we were married that it would either be me or a pet in the house, never both. In 7 1/2 years of marriage we'd never had even a goldfish. Why would we have a cat? I was mad and upset and annoyed! We weren't planning on getting a pet, this was dropped into our laps and we were unprepared! Poor Raymond came home from work, thinking we were keeping the cat and that it was agreed upon and a done deal, but instead he arrived home to an unstable wife who was back-peddling on her decision faster than he could think. I was complaining about all of the work, mess, responsibility, and worst of all, the expense of owning a cat on our already tight budget. He was very calm, although completely bewildered, and afraid of making things worse and getting me even more upset, he gently said that he didn't care what we did with the cat; we could keep it, he could take it to the shelter, it was entirely up to me. The poor guy had no idea what had happened and why I had so suddenly changed my mind. (He is a good man for putting up with me!)

The kids never knew we were really thinking of keeping her because we didn't want them to be disappointed if we didn't. In the end, we did keep the cat. I told myself that if she lives outside then she's not technically a pet. Shush, it makes me feel better.

The boys are to learn some responsibility by helping care for her. They give her food when her bowl is empty and Jonah helps clean out the litter box. She basically lives in our detached garage (we don't park our cars in there) and during the day she is free to roam around the backyard. At night we've been locking her inside the garage because there are some mean and nasty strays that roam the neighborhood that would possibly harm her. She seems to enjoy her life here with us. She definitely can't live in our house, she has been driving my allergies crazy when I try to pet her.

The funny thing is, I grew up with pets and they lived inside, so I do feel kinda bad for pets that have to live outside. I don't know why. I guess that's why I didn't want one, because it wouldn't live as nicely if it had to live outside in the heat. But I guess this cat will still have a better life with us than if it lived (and possibly died) at a shelter. We will definitely be getting this cat fixed. We do NOT want to contribute to the pet population.

One good thing about having the cat is it has really encouraged the boys to go outside and play. They are usually such hermits who prefer to stay indoors! They rarely ever wanted to go out to play, which drove me nuts. Even though the novelty has somewhat worn off, as I knew it would, they do still get out a lot more than they did pre-cat, so that in itself is a plus.

The boys are pleased as punch with their new kitty, Cutie Bee Hunter.

Nathan would laugh and giggle hysterically when he held her. It was pretty cute to watch.

I'm still not always thrilled with the idea of having a cat. Especially while Raymond was traveling to France for a week on business and all of the work fell on me. Thankfully she lives up to her name and that helps my ever-changing moods. ;)

Yes, we got her a collar and name tag, is that weird? But since she lives outside, we didn't want her to escape our backyard and have some kid find her and decide to keep her if she didn't have ID. And I suppose that could still happen, but at least we tried. The collar is a "Safe Cat" one, it gently clips together but can easily come undone if she were to get caught on something so she could get away.

And that, my friends, ends my very long cat saga.