How a scruffy little kitten found his way into our hearts—and stayed.
We are a family of dog lovers. Solidly in camp canine, we had never once considered adding a cat to our family.
Then one summer night, my husband saw a kitten in the tall grass beside a parking lot near our home. He mentioned it casually, but as mutual animal lovers we couldn't stop thinking about that little creature out there alone. Surely his mama was nearby. Did he get dumped? Thinking about all the recent storms, we drove back to check out her situation.
She was still there—crying out and popping her little head up from the tall grass. We offered her a little dog food because that's all we had, and after a few hesitant bites, she let us pick her up and we brought her home - just for the night. Just temporarily, of course.
The next day, we went back looking for her mama or other kittens, but there were none. We couldn't leave this skinny, scruffy little girl to fend for herself, so we purchased some kitten food and a few supplies, asked around for anyone who might be ready to adopt a kitten, and waited.
Meanwhile, the kitten was busy making herself at home.
She entertained us with antics, amazed us with agility and thoroughly disrupted the lives of our older dogs. We treated her fleas, gave her a bath and took her to be fixed and get basic shots through our local shelter.
That's when we discovered something else: Our little “Penny” wasn't a girl after all. As the kitten was growing, we began to suspect we may have gotten the gender wrong and the Young Williams crew confirmed that he was "definitely a Patches and not a Penny." A boy kitten - Patches. Finally, a name that seemed right.
By this point, we were beginning to enjoy the kitten snuggles, the mesmerizing purr and little chirps of this sweet guy. My husband looked at me and said, “So we are keeping him, right? We have a cat now?”
And I guess we did.
Patches came into our home at an unexpected time. Our youngest had just moved into his own apartment, and our house felt a quieter and a bit empty. We were proud and excited for our son, but there was also that ache that comes with watching your children grow up and need you a little less.
And somehow, right into that tender space came a kitten we never planned to have.
Patches has brought laughter, silliness and a little bit of whimsy into our home. He has given us something to smile about every single day.
We'll never know how he ended up in that parking lot or why he cried out to my husband that particular night. But I'm so glad he did. We still aren't cat people.
But we really do like this one.
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