By JODI RALL
In the Bubble columnist

The BHP Kitty is two pounds of love and Chevy Chase’s Christmas Vacation cat memory all rolled into one.

Back in October I was contacted by a woman who needed help adopting out her more than twenty cats, along with a new litter of kittens. Why me you ask? Why not, it seems Brentwood Home Page has earned the reputation of helping others with lost dogs, so why not keep things fair and help find homes for cats. Feeling for the woman and her situation, I made a few phone calls and thought it would be the end of it.

A few weeks went by and another phone call came. This one was “please take a kitten ‘she’ needs help.” My boys were relentless begging and with a low blow my son said “Mom, you always preach to us to help people and caring for animals is important, they are God’s creatures.” Excuse me, we have God’s creatures in abundance with two dogs, three goldfish and the countless other pets that have graced our home…
Why had the women placed all the other kittens and not this little one? A sad fact, black cats/kittens are not adopted out during the month of October because of satanic rituals associated with Halloween. (Without going into more specifics, if you are interested you can Google for additional information. I was both shocked and saddened by what I learned.)

On a rainy night I met the woman in the parking lot off Moore’s Lane outside Pet Smart. Right away I could see this tiny black kitten was sick and my thoughts turned to, what am I going to do? Thank you to the employees at Pet Smart who helped us pick out supplies and thanks to my friend Beth Brown and her son Drew who met us and told us what how to care for this tiny creature that fit in the palm of my hand.

Because we did not know what exactly was wrong with the little kitten, I kept him in my bathroom where I could check on him during the night.

The next morning my friend Nikki Miller and I turned into “Thelma and Louise” as she joined me in my quest to get help for the kitten. First we went to Williamson County Animal Control. Nikki knew the staff from pet adoption day at Woodland Middle School. The vet took a quick look and a staff member told us, “Sorry, we would advise euthanizing the kitten.” Looking around I completely understood as there were beautiful kittens, waiting to be adopted.
Reading my account of the day you readers may not believe how the next event unfolded, however I did have witnesses, thank goodness. The kitten took its paw and put it over its eyes. Taking this as a sign, I decided this meant the kitten wanted to live (I’m a romantic, if you have not figured that out by reading my column each week, a bleeding heart when it comes to children and animals). Nikki got on the phone and called her vet, Dr. Jones at Cool Springs Animal Hospital. Off we went and the staff gently took my tiny bundle and said they would take good care of ‘her.’

A few short hours later, Dr. Jones called me to let me know that my kitten was not a she, the kitty was a ‘he’ and he was a very sick little man. Weighing less than one pound the tiny kitten had conjunctivitis, respiratory infection, ear mites, worms and fleas. Dr. Jones and his amazing staff kept ‘little man’ for several days and then finally on a Friday evening at the beginning of Thanksgiving break, we brought him home.

I have to brag on my sons who took on round the clock care for the kitten making sure he had his medicine, feeding and caring for an animal that weighed in at 1.2 pounds. Even my daughter Zoe, who is not an animal person, fell in love with the kitten.

At first I kept up a good front that the kitten was not staying, we will run this story and get lots of options for a good home. Then I walked in one morning on my husband sitting with the kitten. Ken doll whispered in the kitten’s ear, “Don’t worry, your not going anywhere.” The funniest was intercepting a tweet from my college daughter the night she arrived home for Thanksgiving, “My mom has replaced me with a cat.”

You may be wondering how our dogs handled the kitten who we affectionately called for the first week or two, “Two pounds of love.” Both dogs share mothering of the cat. I don’t think they know he is a cat, to be honest. More than one of our neighbors and friends stopping by to meet Wes has looked on in amazement at the three animals playing.

Finally giving into the reality, the kitten was not going anywhere; we named our new addition, “John Wesley” or “Wes” for short. (Good Methodist’s that we are)

It has been an interesting month and we have learned much about being cat owners. For one, cats love Christmas trees. I had a pencil tree in my dining room and was proud of my decorating efforts. One ornament I did not count on, a cat nestled in the tree. The ornaments and lights on the tree were quickly on the ground, not on the tree and since I had watched Chevy Chase’s “Christmas Vacation,” remembered what happened to that cat, decided the tree needed to be taken down.

We’ve had many a comical family moments watching Wes and the dogs play and of course Santa brought pet toys this year under the family tree.

On a more serious note we have used this experience as a teachable moment to our children. First, owning a pet requires responsibility in caring for the animal. Although I choose not to make a self righteous declaration about how Wes was allowed to become sickly, it does make me sad for other animals in our community. Secondly, adding a pet to the family must be taken seriously from a financial standpoint. We were blessed that Dr. Jones helped us out with our bill, however since then we have had many a trips back for infections and shots. Thinking ahead to the reality of pet ownership is something worth discussing, before bringing a pet into the family.

 While Wes may have had a rough start in life, I think having four teenagers, and their friends, loving on him, he will be just fine.  A friend of mine laughingly said, wow that is one lucky cat.

As we close out the year I want to thank all of you for allowing me into your homes each Thursday. Writing ‘In the Bubble’ has been one of the highlights of my year. Meeting new people and having the opportunity to write about citizens in our community has been amazing.
From “The Brentwood Barbie” to “I’m dating my son,” you the readers have inspired me each week to keep writing.

See you in 2012 each Thursday and Happy New Year!