We have a new kitten

It's true.

We thought that adding a kitten (he's only 4 months old, after all) would be good company for our older cat, India; particularly when we go on vacations. The Sploo usually goes to the in-laws while we're gone which leaves India home all alone. So, long story short, our friend Janet found a mama cat and her litter beneath her porch. She needed to find them homes, asked around, yada yada yada we now have a kitten.

His name is Doyle. Any relation to the pub of the same name in Jamaica Plain is totally on purpose. He's sometype of shorthair, all black, and the devil himself resides inside his tiny, destructive 5 pound body.

This is also true.

Any pretense of love has gone out the window as Doyle keeps trying to assert his alpha male dominance on every pet in the house. He antagonizes India at every opportunity. His favorite tactic is to sneak up to her and smack her with a paw as if to see "HAHA! Gotcha!" This, in turn, leads India to make gutteral sounds that I haven't heard outside of an "Omen" movie and beat his @$$. Malcolm's wagging tail has become a constant source of amusement / combat. Finally, whenever India and Doyle go at it, Malcolm feels the need to literally stick his nose into the mix to find out what's going on. This invariably leads to a very scratched up nose. The poor dog...

Of course, half of this "playtime" takes place after 11PM. Our bed has become a battleground and I am armed only with a squirt bottle and a really cranky attitude towards the new cat.

Finally, after squirting, yelling and chasing pets around the house I usually collapse into a sobbing, quivering heap of a broken man, lamenting the fact that I ever said "yes" to getting a kitten in the first place. Just when I think that we're going to have to "do something" about the kitten the little @#$%!! curls up next to me on the bed, clutches my hand in a 10-claw deathgrip and licks my fingers while purring like an outboard motor.

The little cutie.

Maybe I'll wait to "do something" about him tomorrow...