A while back I was sitting on the couch with one of my roomie’s cats – Julius, an adorable fat black and white cat who loves to be loved on. I turned to Camille and said “you know, I’m really going to miss having a cat around once baseball season is over and we move away from each other.” I think God was listening to that conversation, and he decided to do something about it…

About two weeks ago I was out walking my sweet girl Lili, when Camille came running up to me telling me about this sweet little black and white cat that looked just like Julius the neighborhood kids were playing with. This little thing was being passed around a circle of children, when all it wanted to do was eat the food sitting in the middle of them. Once we could get our hands on this baby our hearts sunk, he was so emaciated! We gave him some more food and water and walked away. But that little guy wasn’t just going to leave it at that, and frankly neither were we.

The neighborhood kids started to find this cat every day and bring him to our doorstep so that he could eat the food we had left out for him. They would also “play” with him in front of our place. This caused some stress for us because they never just let him be so he could eat in peace! I came out one day to find them trying to force him up a tree (I told them not to do it, but they just looked at me like I was speaking Greek), then when he finally gave up and went up the tree they were throwing sticks at him to try to get him to come down. It was a mess! We came home after the baseball game that night to find him still up in the tree crying. After Addison got him down he asked me what we were going to do about him, I told him I didn’t know but deep down we both knew it was already decided he probably would become our cat.

After that Camille and I decided we would take him to the vet to make sure he didn’t have feline aids or any other transmittable diseases that her cats would be able to catch, so we could at least bring him inside and bring him back to a healthy weight. Going to the vet was a somewhat disturbing and moving experience all in one. He was disease free, thank God, but we found out that he was a 2-3 year old cat and only weighed 5 pounds! We thought he was a KITTEN because he was so small and skinny. On top of that he was neutered, meaning he probably belonged to someone at one point in time. In that exam room after finding out all this and going on an emotional roller coaster ride, I knew that this cat was meant to be mine. Since he came to us during my first baseball season spent traveling with Addison, I decided to name him Thunder in honor of the team we are currently spending the season with!

Fast forward to now, he is still in “confinement” in our downstairs half bathroom because 1) he hasn’t had any of his vaccinations yet because the vet wanted him to finish his medications beforehand, and 2) we can’t just throw him into the pack of 3 cats we already have living in the house. We are trying to gradually introduce the 4 of them so things can go as smoothly as possible. He is the most snuggly cat I have ever met, assuring me even more that this cat was meant to find me (I’m a little obsessive when it comes to snuggling ). He is gaining weight, and still eats like he’s never going to see food again. He’s very messy, and he is constantly kneading his paws. I’m so in love with this little guy already, and I know that he was placed in our lives for a reason.