Catch Scratch Fever

Jared and I have been a little hesitant to announce the newest member of our family simply because several of you drop a jaw when you find out we have 5 kids, 2 dogs, and a cat. We have been considering adding to our brood for quite some time and decided long ago it would NOT be another dog simply because they require so much. Yesterday Jared let the cat out of the bag during church and mentioned our little bundle several times so here's how he came to us:

Tanner is our tender heart who loves animals and his birthday is Friday. He'll turn 8 and since all his hamsters have gone to hamster heaven (at no fault of his, the kind of hamster he had only lives 12-18 mos in captivity) we decided to find him a kitten of his very own.

It may shock some of you into coma to find out that Jared and I have been researching for years the ragdoll breed due to our desire to breed them. This first came up before Maury joined our house (2 1/2 years ago) and has resurfaced due to our desire to have kittens for the kids.

It seemed very Proverbs 31 to me. Jared and I have stretched our dollars until they scream hallelujah and having a small cattery, caring for, raising, and then selling the kittens seemed like a way to add some cushion to our financial year and pay of some of our mountains of medical debt all while teaching the kids the facts of life, the business model etc.

Regardless of how much I search the web and beg wisdom from experienced breeders no one seems to want to help. Buying a breeding pair is an investment that we just can't afford even though the first litter would pay for it's parent's purchase.

I've come to the conclusion that my days as a cat woman are going to have to wait. So instead we rescued a precious little polydactyl Siamese. He is 8 weeks old and Tanner has named him Leukas (greek for white) Maxwell Snowflake. It's a mouth full so we just call him Leuk.