An accidental addition

I've been finding answering the 'what did you do at the weekend?' question a little embarrassing this week.  Why?  Well, because we made an accidental addition to the family - a very welcome one but not a planned or entirely sane one.  No, I'm not pregnant, that really would be crazy!  She - Lily - is an 11 week old kitten.

Lily

Shall I try to explain (and try desperately not to sound mad, as if 4 children, one of whom is a baby, 1 (or 2 for half the year) dog, 1 cat and a rabbit wasn't enough.  But actually a kitten in the mix really makes little difference).  So, a few weeks ago our lovely Nessie died.  She was old and not well but it was a horrible decision to make.  Though actually although I was devastated I found, afterwards, that I was quite relieved too.  Does that make sense, I wonder?  I think, because she had been a very special little cat who had had a hard start in life and I had rescued her when I lived alone, working in rural Argyll and then Aberdeenshire (Nessie, Murphy - my dog - and I were a little team for 3 or 4 years) the decision that she had come to the end of her life had to be mine and having made it, after knowing it was coming for several weeks and knowing it was the right one, lifted a weight off my shoulders.  Very long sentence and not sure you'll understand my logic but that's the way it has worked for me.   Strangely I didn't find that quite so much when Murphy came to the end of her life.  Perhaps because being the kind of dog she was  the hole left was much more noticeable (whereas, Nessie, while very cuddly was quite low-key)?  I suppose dogs do also take up more time each day so there's more of a constant reminder that they aren't there.






















Pretty Nessie - she did spend most of her life with only one eye but I can't find a good photo to scan

Anyway, where does Lily fit in?  We all missed Nessie, especially Charlie-cat.  Last week I phoned our local cat rescue to see whether they thought they'd have a suitable cat or kitten for us.  I expected them to say no as when I'd contacted them 3 years ago they wouldn't hear of letting us have a cat because we had young children, dog etc.  We adopted Charlie from a cat rescue in Fife where they were a little more open-minded and asked us just to wait until they had a relaxed, easy going cat come in - which Charlie is, he's the most laid-back cat you could imagine.  Anyhow perhaps the local centre's policy has changed because this time they suggested we came along bringing the children.  Which we did on Sunday.  I thought that perhaps, if we were lucky, they might have a 2 or 3 years old cat that they'd let us have in a few weeks time. 

Me and Murphy

But no, they had Lily who had been in a foster home with young children and a dog and they reckoned would be ideal for us.  Now, how can you refuse to home a gorgeous little kitten, especially once your children have seen her?  So, we had to borrow one of their travel baskets and rush out to buy kitten food when we go home.

Beautiful Murphy

I had warned the kids that she might hide for a few days and be quite scared and shy.  I was completely wrong.  She marched out of the basket and took over the house - she is definitely suited to us but most certainly isn't laid back like Charlie!  We are loving having her.  Especially Angus and Islay who are pretty much constantly in her company when they are home.....and she loves every minute of all the attention she is getting.  Charlie is a little shocked by the wee hurricane but is rapidly coming to terms with her too.
And so, we have a new addition to our house and she is very welcome!

And here's the most important baby in our house.  Sweet smiley Katie at 8 weeks old.