Thursday, September 3, 2009

Cute New Kitty!!




We have a new kitten living with us! Several days ago, I kept hearing a plaintive meowing outside. But every time I looked out the window I didn't see a cat anywhere. At first I thought it was my cat, Jazzy, but she was home so I knew it wasn't. Sam (Hubbie) went out looking for the meowing kitty but couldn't find her. After running a few errands, we returned home and soon heard the meowing again. Sam went out looking again and I stayed at the window. Suddenly, I noticed this small tree directly across the street shaking & waving around but there's wasn't any wind! So I looked really carefully at the tree, calling to Sam at the same time. And then I saw her - a little black & white shape at the very top of the tree! Sam used a near by chair to climb on, grabbed her before she fell and ran home with her. And she made herself right at home, her big eyes growing to saucer size when she saw all the different cat food choices! She loves to eat!

She's black & white (obviously!). My digital camera isn't working properly so I don't have her picture to show you right now but she looks like these kittens, especially the one on the right. She has adorable white booties on her front paws, big eyes, an almost completely black face with a little white below her mouth, her chin, neck and chest are all white with one cute little black spot, like a polka-dot, under her chin. You can only see it when she lifts her head! Her body is all black except for a white belly and her back legs are white. She has a wonderful purr like a little motor. When Sam or I scratch her cheeks or the top of her head, we hear the motor start up and build to a full-blown rumbling purr! She has a very lively, fun personality and doesn't seem fazed by the other cats at all. They, on the other hand, are having some difficulty adjusting to the new kitten. Several feline noses are out of joint in this home right now. But as the days go by, the cats are slowly, grudgingly accepting the little one.

We need to get her to our vet and get her checked out, start her shots etc. Sam and I have talked about putting out feelers to get her adopted. But as each day, hour, minute goes by, we fall more in love so..... I'm not sure how serious we are about the adoption issue.


We heard a very disturbing story from our neighbor. After Sam brought kitty home and we made sure she was okay, fed her, gave her water and TLC, Sam went out to see if any of our neighbors knew anything about her. There are a lot of stray and feral cats in this neighborhood and in much of Brooklyn. One of our neighbors, who has cats of her own, told Sam that there's an abandoned house on the block where a man is living illegally and kitty was living there but the man wasn't claiming her and really wasn't caring for her. The neighbor said that she thought kitty's mother might be this beautiful long-haired homeless calico. We have fed this cat a few times but we weren't able to get her to stay with us. The neighbor told Sam that the calico was one of at least 2 cats in our neighborhood recently tortured and abused. This neighbor and others think it's some kids who are being cruel to the animals. We recently saw this beautiful calico and she no longer has her gorgeous tail. She ran from us before we could get really close to her. My heart broke when I heard this, it's just awful, awful that this is happening. Tonight there is a neighborhood watch meeting and we are going and with some of the neighbors will speak about the animal cruelty and discuss what to do to make sure it stops. I'm going to call the ASPCA for advice as well as the animal cruelty bureau at the DA's Office which was started the year I began working as a prosecutor.


So this morning I was thinking about this situation and cruelty to animals and children in general. I was raised in a roman catholic home, went to Sunday mass for years, attended a catholic grammar school and high school and a Jesuit college. I questioned a lot of what I was taught about my religion and there's much I don't believe and I have thought about God, the tenets of the catholic church and what I was taught for a long time and I have my own ideas and beliefs about faith, religion, God that work for me. Forgiveness is a concept I have read about and thought about a lot for very personal reasons. I believe in forgiving others if, for no other reason, than it eases my conscience and makes me feel better because I don't like to judge or feel like I am judging other people and, generally, I like people. But I don't know if I can forgive something like this, cruelty to animals like the cruelty, abuse and neglect of children, it's evil on a whole different level. My first reaction, my gut reaction is to punish them, do to them what they did to these animals, or to the children who are abused all the time. But now that I have said that "out loud", it feels wrong, I feel bad. Hhmmmm...I need to think about this.....


I am sorry to get so heavy/deep this morning. On a much lighter, much more fun note We have an adorable, spunky, playful and loving kitten to name!! Any ideas? Some of the names Sam and I have been throwing around.... oops!

{ po0555555555555555555555555555]\} <------ speaking of kitty, that's from her saying hello, dancing briefly on my keyboard! lol


Okay, back to names! Any ideas you have we'd appreciate, I'm not asking you to pick from these unless you really like one of them!

Faye Wray, Betty, Mabel, Zoey, Meliae, Bronte, Miso, Lexi, Una, Pinky, Eden, Mazey, Lola, Violet, Phoebe....


I hope you have a great day!

Amy

18 comments:

  1. She is adorable. I am amazed - you seem to have cats falling into your lap. Sorry to hear about cats beings so badly treated in your area. That is just awful.

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  2. Yay! She is adorable! Black and white kitties have their own little personalities...the 2 that I have (had) were little characters and did things that none of my other cats ever did. As for a name...one will jump out at you. The black/white kitten I adopted last September became Mittens. She does have white feet, but I really liked Mittens for some reason. Her picture is on my page. My other black/white lived to be 16...her name was String...and you guessed it. Her favorite thing to play with was a string! :)
    I also do not have any tolerance for animal abusers. It makes me very angry and sick and sad to hear of any animal being abused. People who harm animals have something seriously wrong with them.
    Congrats on your new addition!!

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  3. The picture of the cat above looks exactly like my cat. His name is Oreo. Your welcome to steal the name if you like it. I also like the name sasha or shadow. I hate to hear any animals being treated badly. I love cats as well!!

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  4. It broke my heart to hear of the animal abuse. I am such an animal lover and can not understand how anyone could do such cruel things.

    On a happier note, I am so happy that you rescued the little kitty. She will be so lucky to be with you. My idea for a name is Beatrice. My previous cat's name was Beatrice. I adopted her from Mighty Mutts. She had a personality that was a little bit like a dog. She would always come to me when I called her even if she was sleeping in her comfortable bed and when visitors arrived she would always greet them at the front door.
    From your names above I like Miso and Mabel!

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  5. I was also very shocked to hear about the abuse of cats in yr area! Unfortunately you read about it so often these days.

    Congrats on yr new addition - as for names, I naturally have an affinity to Lola (!!) but because of the white booties on her paws, what about "Boots" or "Tootsie"?!

    xxLOLA:)

    PS Thanks for lovely comment! xx

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  6. What a pretty kitty! I think cats know where you live and spread the word to others! We like the name Coconut! We would have named our Daisy that but we forgot.

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  7. Aw, she looks like our last cat, Oreo. He was our baby for 13 years.

    Thanks for visiting Pudgy Penguin Perusals and becoming a follower. A hearty welcome! I just signed up to follow you too.

    Good luck with the office chair contest. Remember, you can get 5 bonus entries if you post about it.

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  8. Dear Amy,

    Sweet little kitten you have there, I would say giving her up for adoption is a kind thing to do as there are many out there without any cats who might like one around.

    With regards to forgiveness, I had to reread your comment from my post. Perhaps these kids come from an auful messed up background and are somehow taking out their misery and anger on animals. WRONG but there is a reason young people behave in a way we can't understand. Normally because of adults.

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  9. You know what I think about animal and people abusers...
    She looks darling...I like 'Zoey'.

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  10. I can't imagine anyone abusing cats or any animal in that way. It's sickening.

    For your new little bundle of fur, I love love love the name Betty! So cute!

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  11. She's adorable and blessed to have been rescued. I love Bronte for a name!

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  12. Oh, how cute and very sad! I like Pickles as a name :)

    Sent you a message in book blogs by the way!

    Hugs

    Sassy
    :)

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  13. I think that kitten knew what it was doing when it hung around your house! Cruelty to animals is just horrible and the thing about it is that people who abuse animals don't treat other people well either.

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  14. Thank you for your lovely words and comment. I don't think you were ranting too - the mere thought makes one livid, I can't imagine what it must be like to see the cat. Love, x.

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  15. She is adorable. and so happy she found her way to your loving home. She looks like my sweet Minerva, who passed away about 5 years ago.

    I can't stand to here stories about animal abuse, as cruel as thhis may sound I wish these spineless abusers would get to feel the same pain they inflict to helpless animals.

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  16. Thank you for all of your suggestions about names. I'm still rooting for Betty. We've been trying out Ruby but Sam doesn't think it fits her. I like Phoebe but it reminds us of the character from the "Friends" sitcom who wasn't smart at all!
    As for the abuse of the cats, it's just awful. We live in a sort of transitional neighborhood, people are moving in and improving it but there are several groups of kids who hang out on some of the streets. Nobody knows for sure if they were the perpatrators but it does look like the behavior of kids.
    The good thing is that the calico cat who was abused has been coming by here the past few days so we've been feeding her and trying to establish some trust. It can take a while but hopefully it will work.
    Kathy, we think the same thing - that cats "spread the word" among themselves and let the homeless cats know where they can get food! lol Cats who need food and shelter do seem to find us!

    Clarity, I think you're right about these kids being messed up because of how they are treated. I have seen plenty of parents curse at their kids, berate them in public for no reason, shame & humiliate them. It's a terrible way to treat a child and in many kids will cause anger to brew beneath the surface. We live ina great world but there are so many problems.

    Anyway, thank you all for visiting! I'm so happy to see you here! I hope you're having a great holiday weekend!

    Amy

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  17. She is adorable, Amy. I am so glad you and Sam were able to rescue her. How horrible about the animal cruelty in the area. That breaks my heart. I'll be giving my furkids extra hugs today.

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