The latest addition

The phone rang as I was about to leave home to pick up a mama cat and her seven (!) newborn kittens that I was going to foster. The woman who had found the little family said a new kitten, about four weeks old, had just wandered up. The lady knew all the neighborhood cats, and this baby didn't belong to anyone, so she seemed to have been dumped. The woman asked if I would take this one too, and I said, "Sure, why not?"

Fostering the mama, Sassafras, and her seven boys is a trip, but this little girl just stole my heart from the get-go. I called her Spot, because of her speckled belly, for the first couple of weeks until I realized I was going to keep her. Then she became Emily. She's pictured here at 6 weeks old.

My boyfriend teases me because I've nicknamed her "The World's Most Perfect Kitten" -- even though she doesn't always quite make it to the litter box in time! She's incredibly sweet and snuggly, and has made friends with all my other cats -- even my curmudgeonly 17 1/2-year-old, Shugi.

The foundling

We found this little cutie Friday night, Sept. 14. When I say "we," I really mean Bobby's cat L'il Bit and me. I got to his apartment early while he was playing a gig, and L'il Bit wanted to take a walk so I let her out the back door. While I was out there watching her eat grass and check out everything in her world, I started hearing what sounded like a tiny kitten shrieking. I followed the sound, and it seemed to come from a neighbor's house, but I didn't feel comfortable going into their yard to check it out.

Finally a young man came out, and I asked him if they had a kitten, and he said no, they didn't have any animals. I told him about the squalling, but he didn't seem to care. After he left, I didn't feel any qualms about going into their yard to investigate. The sound was coming from a crawlspace under the house that had a boarded-up opening. There was just enough room at the bottom for me to reach into. I was a bit nervous, but stuck my hand in, and this little fuzzball walked into it.

I pulled her out and held her close. She had fleas jumping off of her and was rather dirty, so it didn't look as if her mom had been around for a while. She was screaming at the top of her lungs. I thought for a minute about whether I should take her or leave her in case her mother came back. But it was getting dark, the night was going to be very cold, and as cold and hungry as she already was, I doubted she would make it through the night if something had happened to prevent her mom's return. I didn't see or hear any other kittens under the house, so I snuggled the baby and took her to Bobby's apartment.