It's a...

GIRL!!!  As of yesterday, we have a new member in our family:

We were definitely not thinking about adding a kitten to our house, but she needed a home and we decided to go ahead and take her.

She came from the girl the I used to tutor when she was in high school.  She's now 25 with two kids of her own!  Anyway, her girls convinced their daddy that they really, really needed this kitten.  So he bought it for them.  But then they decided that they didn't really want it (and the little one decided to see what would happen if she scratched the kitten's eye with her own claw) and they wanted to know if we would take it.

Like I said, I weren't intending to get another kitten for quite some time.  We currently have an 18 1/2 year old cat named Midas who has kidney disease and requires sub-cutaneous fluids every other day or so.  We figured that we would let him live out his sunset years in quiet peacefulness without the stress of adding any kittens to his life.

But I guess that plan is pretty much wrecked!

I think it will be OK, though.  This little kitten is so friendly and sweet - I figure Midas will eventually get used to her.  If she ever gets over her fear of him, that is...

Midas basically lives on the 3rd floor of our house - where the bedrooms are.  He rarely makes it down the stairs anymore and so we set the new kitten up with a litter box, food, and water on our second floor - where our living room, dining room, and kitchen are.  She hasn't ventured up the stairs on her own yet.  After a tentative meeting yesterday morning when she first arrived and Midas yelled (he doesn't meow anymore!) and hissed at her, she doesn't seem to be in a hurry.

Since the new kitten hadn't been to a veterinarian before, and she had one scratched, squinty, goopy eye, I made an appointment for her today.  The scratched eye should be fine with a little ointment and she's now gotten her first round of shots.

Such a sweet little thing!

Oh, and her name?  Spot.  In honor of Data's cat on Star Trek: The Next Generation.  Since she's a calico (and therefore somewhat spotted), we thought it was especially fitting.  :)