Remember yesterday I was complaining about the local cat herd and about a kitten I saw? Well, the kitten kept hanging about my doorstep and finally last night I picked the kitten up and got a good look at him. I know, stupid, stupid. I just kept thinking a tiny little kitten like him would make but a mere snack for the dogs that also roam my neighborhood.

When I got a good look at him, I realized it was worse than I had thought. Not only was he a tiny little thing, but he also had some major goop in his eyes and appeared to be blind in one of those eyes. Oh, no. No no no no no no no. A half-blind kitten wouldn’t last any time at all in this neighborhood.

So, I got Mr. Ivy to come out and take a look at the kitten. He agreed that something needed to be done about it, so I got my cat carrier, packed him up and took him to the 24 hour veterinary service. The whole time I was driving there, I was thinking, "Okay. If it’s going to take a few hundred dollars to get him fixed up, I can do that. But if he needs some kind of surgery costing thousands, I’m going to ask them to put him down." The very thought of it broke my heart, but which is worse? Dying in a vet’s office or being killed by dogs?

I walked in and explained that he was a stray, but I wanted him checked out to see if there was anything I could do to help him. They asked me what his name was, but I couldn’t tell them anything. See, to name him would be to love him and to love him means I couldn’t have him put to sleep if it came down to it. "Kitty," I said. "Just call him Kitty."

We took him to a room, got him weighed- he weighed only a pound! They confirmed that he was indeed a boy, and estimated his age to be about 6 weeks old. They took him in the back and tested him for FIV and FLV, and the vet checked him over. I sat there shaking as I waited for the results.

The vet tech came back in with him wrapped in a baby blanket, smiling. His test results were negative and the goop in his eyes was just an upper respiratory infection. Well, except for the half-blind eye. Apparently he has been injured there and it just healed badly. He may, as he grows, end up blind in that eye, or it may just look forever funky.

Some eye ointment, some antibiotics, and $200 later, and I was on my way home with our newest member of the family. I let my daughter name him, and she named him Shadow. I would have named him Dr. Horrible, but hey. He’s currently living in the crate as his little cat den, shut into my bathroom to keep him away from the other kitties until he’s healed so they don’t get sick too.

And he is so sweet. Whenever I go in there to hold him and pet him, he just purrs like a little tiny motor. He loves cuddling and he loves ear skritches, and he’s just a sweetie. He will never be a pretty cat like my 2 fat boys are. His eye will always look weird. But that’s okay. He’s one of us now.