A Snowball in Texas

Almost a year ago, my best friend from high school messaged me one day asking if I knew anyone who would want to adopt a kitten or two. She sent me a picture of this teeny tiny little white ball of fur, along with his 3 siblings who were all orange. Quite strange how a momma cat who was all orange and the daddy was all orange, too, could have a litter of 4 kittens and one comes out all white. Who knew? Well, I showed the pictures of the kittens to my mom and she said she wished she could take another one in to join the crowd of her eleven cats. I told my best friend that I wanted the white one. But I didn't know how my then-husband would react since he wasn't really a cat lover. When I showed him the picture of the litter, he immediately said he wanted the white one, too. So, it was settled. I let my best friend know that we wanted the white one. A few other people had wanted him, too, but she said she would give him to me if I was serious about adopting him. I told her I wouldn't change my mind for the world. I've always wanted a white cat that I could name Snowball. Over the previous ten or so years, we had fed some all white cats who we named Snowball, but they were never really ours.

We still had to wait, of course, until they were 6 weeks of age so they could be weened from their momma. But, just before that time came, momma moved the kittens from my best friends house to another place. My friend couldn't find where she had moved them. She had the neighbors keep an eye out for them. I figured I would never get the chance to adopt him if they never found them again. A few days had gone by, and the kittens were back close to my friends house. She put out a little make-shift house made of cardboard to keep them safe and dry. We had a hell of a storm come through and she was hoping to keep them safe. Finally, the momma started to trust my friend enough to pick up the kittens. My first photo of Snowball was the one at the top of this story. I fell in love with him immediately. There's just something about white cats that I've always loved. Little by little, as they were growing, I couldn't wait to adopt this little snowball of fur.

The day finally came when I was able to meet my new addition to my family of rescues. My friend brought him to my house after he had gotten his first round of shots. Her son had been taking care of them until they were able to feed on their own. When she dropped him off, her son got teary-eyed, but my friend knew that Snowball was going to be in very good loving hands. The first night I had him, it was kind of hard getting used to having a tiny kitten in the house. Had to watch where I walked and being careul shutting doors to make sure I didn't catch him in the doorway. He was such a happy little kitten. He tried so hard to make friends with my other three cats, who, to say the least, were not happy having to share their beds and food. They would just stare at him and watch him. He would be running back and forth and jumping all over the place. Such a bunch of energy for someone less than 2 months old. Finally, after about a week or so, my next youngest cat, Bootsie, was the first one to approach him. But, of course, after a week of getting hissed at by the others, he was a little weary about getting close to any of them. Bootsie would go up to him and smell him. As soon as Snowball would turn around, Bootsie would run away. Little by little, Snowball accepted Bootsie as his new buddy, and brother. Bootsie ended up taking him under his wing and actually protected him. Any time Snowball would cry, Bootsie would go look for him. When Snowball would fall asleep, Bootsie would always check on him and peek into wherever he was sleeping. Eventually, as Snowball got older, they were both chasing each other around, slamming into walls (Snowball could never figure out how to use his brakes). Eventually, my second oldest cat started to "let" him sleep next to him, although he would always keep an eye on him in case Snowball decided to pounce on him. My oldest cat, Princess, was the last one to finally accept him. She's always lived up to her name. Even to this day, she still smacks him around.

What I didn't know about Snowball, but noticed as he grew, that he has siamese somewhere along his gene line. Slowly but surely, I started to notice some light orange and cream colored fur popping out. Now that he's almost a year old, he definitely has the markings of a siamese cat. He's got a striped white and creamed tail. His face and ears have the dull orange color in the right spots. And the bottoms of his paws also have a little orange. But the best part is he never lost his baby blue eyes. I must say, he is definitely a handsome little guy.