So, two months ago, my wife and I were outside cleaning our garage at 11 pm (yeah, I know, we're THOSE neighbors) and this little kitten wandered in. She looked like she hadn't eaten anything outside of the womb and might have had a bad leg, so of course my wife and I felt bad. We fed her some fresh meat and eventually stole some of our dog's food to feed it. We took it in for the night because it was supposed to storm that night.
The next morning we let it run free to do what it wanted. We called our vet (thank God my uncle-in-law is a vet, with our bills.....) and set up an appointment to get her checked out. The test came that second night. We grabbed a handful of food and sat out on our steps making stupid cat noises until we heard the faintest "meow" from under the car. My baby was back. (our dog is partial to my wife, the cat to me)
So we took her in and got her shots and de-ear-mited (mmmmm.... nummy) and then a month later we got her spayed and declawed. She has been a wonderful addition to our family. She did have something happen to her leg, so we have to watch that for the rest of her life, BUT, on the nice side, she can't jump very high, thus, no countertops!!!! She is funny, goofy, lovey, and more or less a great companion for our dog. Unfortunately, like so many of the people on here, there are another 50 strays out there every night and it makes me sad knowing that a lot of them won't make the winter. But our lucky Kamara will have a soft bed, all the food she can eat (She's still a twig, but at least she's an immunized twig), and a family to love her.
I thought this story might help somebody somewhere. We thought long and hard about how much money (we soared past $150 nice and easily with shots and spay/declaw) and work it was going to be to get a cat, but in the end, we knew it was the right thing to do, for her and us.