"Oh, you wicked, wicked little thing!" cried Alice, catching up the kitten and giving it a little kiss to make it understand that it was in disgrace.

-- Lewis Carroll

Sometime in May while we were on vacation, I received an email from a friend of mine. She had found a tiny kitten in her backyard.

“Found an extremely small and emaciated kitten in a corner of my yard under flowers. My dog Maya kept barking at that corner and I heard meows coming from that direction. I originally thought it was outside the fence and I couldn't see anything. I left the area and heard the kitten again. Juan, my hubby, said he had heard something two days previous, but didn't think much about it. I did a further search in the corner and found the baby.....very scared and very, very skinny. I brought it in and gave it what I had for the cats I have, which is NOT kitten food. Kitten went for it as fast as it could and of course everything came back up that evening in the bedding. Kitten was further emaciated and very weak the next a.m. so I took evaporated milk and started giving it with a dropper full (1 at first and then 2 at a time) about every half hour. Well.....I'm happy to say that little thing after much love and caring is doing just terrific and what a cutie.... I'll let the pictures I send speak for themselves. My hubby refuses to have another cat, but he doesn't mind that I'm getting it up to par to find a good home. I thought of you immediately because I know you love your babies. You would be the perfect new mom so I'm hoping you'll consider adopting it. I think it's a boy, but I'm not a professional and I can't be sure. Maybe you can tell. I'll wait to hear from you and send you pics.”

I didn’t tell Charlie about the email because I really wasn’t sure we could take another kitten. We had always said that “ten” is the limit and we had one more slot before we were there. Of course, we were not trying to make it up to ten, but, I didn’t want this kitten to go to the animal shelter. This is “kitten season” there and he probably wouldn’t be kept long. They euthanize hundreds a week because there is not enough room for more.

So I told my friend that I would like to see him when we got back in a couple of weeks. She said she’d hold him until then and wouldn’t take him to the shelter unless I said no. She kept me updated on his progress and sent pictures of him. I told her I hadn’t talked to Charlie about it yet and to give me a couple of days to do that and I would call her.

We finally got home from our trip on Thursday, June 16. I still hadn’t told Charlie about a possible new kitten. The last few days before getting home had been pretty hectic and stressful because of the problems we’d had with the RV, etc.

Then on Friday, the 17th, our cat Toby was sick and it turned out that he couldn’t be saved. We were very upset about that, of course. The kitten was the farthest thing from my mind right then.

On Saturday morning, I was quietly having my coffee when my friend called me. She wanted to know if we could come over to see the kitten. I told her about Toby and that I’d call her back after talking to Charlie.

I told Charlie about the emails I’d gotten a couple of weeks earlier. Of course he believed me, but to prove it, I showed him the emails and pictures I’d received. Surprisingly, he said “Yes, let’s go see the kitten”. I couldn’t believe it. I called my friend and told her we’d be right over.

We decided to bring the kitten home and try him with the other cats. I named him “Rhody”. I had told my friend that if “Rhody” didn’t work out with us, between she and I, we would find a good home for him. He would not go to the shelter.

I took him to the vet for a checkup, etc. on Sunday. He was 2.9 lbs. and was pronounced healthy.

For the next week, we kept an eye on him and the other cats. He seemed to get along fine. Of course there were hisses, etc., but for the most part, he did his own thing and ignored it. He and “Jonesie”, being the youngest of the cats, became playmates.

"Jonesie" and his "new" little brother, "Rhody"

Me and "Rhody"

Me and "Jonesie"

It is important to me for everyone to know that we did not take this kitten in because “Toby” died. He is not replacing “Toby”. No one could do that. If we had brought “Rhody” home and “Toby” had not died, he’d have been an addition to the family. There’s room for all of them. We’d give anything to still have Toby with us.

More later..........