Found: a pure black polydactyl kitten

This is a follow up to an article I wrote two weeks ago. In that piece, I talked about our son, Benjamin. He was hospitalized at Samaritan for four days with pneumonia. Thankfully, he is now resting at home and doing well. On the second night of that ordeal, Jeanne and I sat at Ben’s bedside. The hour was late and we were very anxious about our son’s condition. In order to temporarily take our mind off of matters, we played a game where we could ask each other a question.

One of those questions was about what our next cat might look like. For a long time, Jeanne has wanted a Polydactyl kitten. This is a feline that is born with additional toes. The condition can occur on all four paws or just two. The added toes can sometimes resemble human thumbs.

I added to Jeanne’s wish that the Polydactyl kitten would be pure black. I’ve never owned a pure black cat before. We recently adopted two feral kittens off of the street. The mother cat is all black, except for a very small portion of white on the front of her neck. She reminds me of a pastor wearing all black, with a white clergy tab on her collar.

We had a lot of time on our hands, so I searched the internet for a black Polydactyl kitten. Surprisingly, I found two. However, one was near Portland, Oregon, and the other in Butte, Montana. To adopt either kitten would require a very long road trip. I told Jeanne that once Ben got well, that I could make such a journey.

We decided that the kitten in Montana was ideal. Her name was “Pekaf.” She was a rescue kitten from a litter of five. All of her siblings had been adopted. I filled out an adoption questionnaire and waited for an answer. After a couple of days, I lost patience and made a call. I was disappointed to learn that Pekaf was going to be adopted that day. So, we missed out. We were disappointed.

The next morning, on Immanuel’s Facebook page, we received a message. It was from a local woman named Melody Sheriff. She said that she had read my article in the Columbia Basin Herald about wanting an all-black Polydactyl kitten. It just so happened that she had one. His name was Jack. Melody said that she was just about to take Jack (and other rescued cats from the Moses Lake area) west of the mountains to PAWS. According to the PAWS website, they are a no-kill “shelter in Lynnwood, a satellite cat adoption center at PAWS Cat City in Seattle’s University District, and a spay and neuter clinic.”

Melody offered to bring Jack over to the parsonage for a “meet and greet.” Naturally, Jeanne fell in love with the cute, twenty-two toed kitten. Jack was tested for feline leukemia and AIDS and tested negative. As I write this piece on Monday — today Jack will be neutered and brought home with us.

Our other rescues are named after the characters on the television show called NCIS: Abby and Ziva. If we had adopted Pekaf, we were going to name her Laila. Jack the Polydactyl kitten will be renamed, keeping within the NCIS theme, Toeny (after Very Special Agent, Tony DiNozzo).

So, what does all of this have to do with religion? Well, in my mind, everything: a belief system that acknowledges all of God’s creation is a good thing.

Also, this reminds me that answers may be closer to us then what we first believed.

Footnote: Melody Sheriff can’t do this alone. She is one among a number of local folks whose calling and passion is to rescue cats without homes. Melody then tries to re-home them. If you wish to help her non-profit cause, she can be contacted via her Facebook page at AChance4Cats.