Our dog, Reo, was barking at something in her dog yard last Wednesday night as we were going to bed. This kitten was sitting there in the dark, bold as could be, unafraid of the barking dog. When I went outside, it ran up to me, meowing, rubbing up against my legs. Obviously tame,  I thought it was one of the strays that my neighbor feeds and scooted it out of the yard and closed the gate. But it didn’t leave… I could hear it outside my bedroom window until I fell asleep, and at the crack of dawn it was at the sliding glass door. OK, this cat has obviously chosen me for some reason, so I picked him up to pet him. This poor guy was a skinny little bag of bones, beat up with a scabbed nose and injured eye (that’s his inner eye lid over his left eye). Then I saw my bottle of fish emulsion that was licked clean (yuck). Now… I don’t take in strays (especially males), but I broke down and did it… I fed him. Poor thing was starved!  Biting the bowl he was trying to eat so fast. I wondered if the reason he wasn’t eating next door was that he had tangled with the tomcat that hangs out there. Our cat, Rose, had a fight with him last month and I had to take her to the vet for an abscess in her cheek. $200 and 3 visits later, I think she learned her lesson: she’s 11 years old now and not such a bad ass anymore. Maybe she would be ready to accept another cat in the family…

Meanwhile, the kitten (I’m calling him Little Buddy by the 2nd day) and our dog Reo are best friends. He’s eating like crazy, doubled his weight over the weekend, but has bad diarrhea (and probably worms). So on Monday, we went to the vet and he got checked out. The diarrhea medicine is taking awhile to work, but he’s feeling better and  making himself at home… stay tuned for more news on Buddy.