The Kitten Distribution System Still Works

This past Thursday, while on his way to pick up dinner for us, my nephew stumbled upon a tiny black kitten crying his little lungs out in our driveway. Before I even had an opportunity to stand up and head outside to see the little guy, Dad was immediately directing just one very firm word at us: “No.”

Honestly, I can't say that I blame him. Our residence is currently home to my other three feline companions, and potentially the spirit of another, all of which you can read about in this post. In this economy, and with my struggles in finding a reliable source of income, the cost of cat food, litter, toys, treats, supplements, furniture, and occasional medicine or healthcare for my boys can definitely add up. Adding yet another mouth to feed just isn't a good financial idea. Plus, I'm pretty sure the elder two are still mad about Cinnamon's arrival a few years ago, so subjecting them to yet another kid sibling would be interesting, to say the very least.

Also, at what point do you stop being someone who has cats and start being the crazy cat person?? I mean, I've jokingly referred to myself as the “crazy cat guy” many times in the past, but would I start actively defying expectations by bringing yet another cat into the fold? More importantly, do we really care about societal standards??

Keeping in line with Dad's wishes, however, we sadly decided to leave the kitten outside. However, since some rough weather was incoming, we did provide him with food, water, and a little bit of shelter on our covered porch. If we couldn't keep the little guy, I wanted to make sure he at least wasn't going to starve to death or have nowhere to hide when it storms. We were also keeping our fingers crossed that the reason he was crying so much was because he was calling for his mom, who might still be nearby. Especially since there is a stray calico cat (that we've very creatively decided to call Callie the Calico) that we suspect lives somewhere nearby and who very well could be the mother in question. We still wanted Callie to be able to find her baby if that was the case.

Five days later and the all-black kitten, whom Dad had formally given the name Inkspot, was still on our porch. Callie and/or any other capable feline mom were nowhere in sight. Numerous rounds of storms have rolled through the area since the day we found Inky, it is soon forecast to start getting very hot outside, and we've worried about him for several other reasons, not the least of which includes a vulture that has been stalking the area due to an armadillo that had apparently keeled over and died across the street from our house. (Doesn't southeast Kansas sound like fun, you guys?!!) I had told Dad a day or two ago that, if we weren't able to get Inky to a shelter or find another home for him by today, he was, indeed, going to stay with us permanently. Getting him elsewhere didn't happen, so today he entered our home for the first time.

Please meet Inky, the latest addition to our family!

While I definitely have some concerns about Inky's well-being and the well-being of my other three fur-kids, I'm hoping that they will eventually acclimate to one another and be one big happy feline family. I'm also happy we could finally bring him inside and give him a home. It appears as though he was either orphaned or abandoned by his mother, so he needed a place to rest his little head. And that place is here.

Welcome home, little guy. 💖