Introductions

When the shelter volunteer turned up to drop off the mum and kittens (involving the first big chunk of time off work of about 10 more to follow to date), it turned out that I'd also gotten a "freebie" kitten. She was a tiny tabby of around the same age as the other kittens (about four weeks) and was apparently found on the streets and brought into the shelter by someone who happened to stumble upon her. Because she was so young and had no mum, she was also due to be euthanised. She was thrown in with the litter before being dropped off to me and the many crossed fingers seem to have paid off because the mum cat took to her straight away. So Matt and I had welcomed one black mum cat and five tiny kittens into our life and equally tiny flat.

Two of the kittens are grey and white and are very obviously boys, if you catch my drift. We named them Elliott and Dave/Oscar (still can't decide). One girl is black and the other one is black and white. We named them Mini-Cat and Tilly respectively. The "freebie" tabby's gender remains a mystery, but we settled on insisting she's a girl and named her Rosey (I stick firmly to my guns on this spelling, even though it was by mere chance/miseducation that I didn't think of "Rosie"). The mum cat we named Celia because it seemed to suit her sleekness and feminine charm.

The two kittens that stuck out the most were Mini-Cat and Rosey. Mini-Cat is not a particularly inventive name, but merely an accurate description of this kitten's appearance. Her proportions are almost exactly that of an adult cat but in miniature. She seems less fluffy than the others, so you can really see her beautiful catty contours. Her sister Tilly was apparently the runt of the litter and looked a bit despondent when she first arrived with us. I asked whether she might die and was shocked when I was told that this does often happen, actually. I really, really don't think I can handle anything dying in my care, let alone a gorgeous little kitten. This petrified me even further about the whole thing, but it was all done and dusted by then. There was no backing out. If I did, I might have to face the responsibility of having all these kitties put to sleep. Hello dark, scary dead end.