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