Mr. Burns

Meet Mr. Burns. In the interest of full disclosure - I didn't take these photos. I did however, have a hand in shaping his future (and helping out a friend in distress).

Before he became Mr. Burns I called him "drain kitty", because that's where I found him - hiding in a drain outside my office window. I had gone for an afternoon walk (not something I do very often) to talk with a co-worker about another co-worker's upcoming birthday. Coming back to my office I hear the meowing of a very small kitten coming from the concrete under my feet (a bit spooky hearing sounds coming from beneath the sidewalk).

I won't go into all the details about crawling around on my hands and knees in the parking lot and in the street (in a skirt no less!) trying to find the source of the sound so to make a long story short, with some help we got drain kitty to come out. He was VERY dirty and covered in fleas. My friend, Allison took him home and gave him a bath and some kitten food.

Not such an unusual story, you say? True. Except for how and when it all happened. First, I don't rescue cats. The neighborhood I live in is crawling with feral cats. The woman down the street feeds them all. I've heard that she catches as many as she can and has them fixed so I guess that's ok. They seem to be able to look out for themselves. I just don't believe that they would necessarily be better off in a cage in a shelter than running around free. I DO like cats, but I'm allergic to them. This one just sounded SO SMALL I couldn't resist trying to do something for it. Also, the kittens around my home have other cats to look after them. This one appeared to be all alone. Turns out he's about 8 weeks old. The other remarkable thing about the timing of this event is that it happened on the very day that Allison had to put her cat of 11 years to sleep because he was very sick.

She wasn't sure she was going to keep this new kitty. She wasn't sure she was ready to deal with something small and needy while she was grieving for her cat. The "no kill" shelter she called to see if they would take him was filled up (are you sensing a pattern here?). So, after about a week, she decided to keep him and gave him his new name. She said that having him around helps her not be so sad over her loss. Mr. Burns is now part of her family.

So, that's the story of Mr. Burns. I like to believe he has a better life now than he would have had if I had just kept walking, and Allison is happy he is in her life. Wait till he chews up her computer cables, she might change her mind (just kidding!)