by Emma Riley Sutton

Created on: June 02, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

Despite her name, Kitten was quite an original. Never, in all my years owning and working with animals, have I ever known or even heard of a cat like her. I doubt I ever will. She was something special...

"Never ask a question that you don't want answered," I was taught since I was a small child. Apparently, I did not learn that lesson because I asked a question that should not have been answered and it forever changed my life.

"When do you want to get out of that cage?" I asked a skinny gray kitten at our local animal shelter.

"Now," the kitten replied.

My mom, who was with me, and I both stared at the kitten. From my mom's shocked expression, she had heard it, too.

"When do you want out of that cage?" I asked again, curious if my ears were playing tricks on me.

"Now," the kitten answered, again.

"Did you hear that?" My mom asked me in disbelief.

"I think so." I didn't want to admit to a talking, time-telling cat.

"When do you want to go home with us?" My mom asked the kitten.

"Now." That kitten knew when it wanted out and when it wanted to go home with us.

"It wants out of that cage now and it wants to go home with us now," my mom told me as she took the card off the wire cage. "I guess we had better listen."

Before recovering from meeting a talking a cat, we had had adopted it and were on our way to the veterinarian to have it checked out. Truth be told, I was allergic to cats and didn't need one - had been given strict orders by the doctor not to get ever own a cat. That didn't matter, when a cat tells you when it wants out of a cage at an animal shelter, you do as you are told.

The local animal shelter was ran by the city - it wasn't a humane society or animal rescue. The employees didn't bother to sex cats and kittens. I was only in high school, had never owned a cat because of my health issues, so I didn't know if it was a boy or a girl. My mom, with a bit more experience, thought it was a boy, but she wasn't sure. So off to the vet without even knowing if we would be asking the doctor to spay or neuter our new "non-human family member."

"We don't want any babies," my mom explained as she sat the kitten on the exam table. "Just left the animal shelter and we do not want any more kittens."

The vet smiled. "What is this skinny kitten's name?"

I knew that was coming. I sat in the extra chair and wondered how my mom was going to answer that without looking like a fool. Our family was famous at the vet clinic for taking in all sorts of animals and they all had names, no

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next Page >>