Today's gallery features my new roommate, Spooky. For those of you who followed the Hitop Nation Halloween Photo-Scavenger Hunt, you might remember that one of the items was a pic of a cat and dog together. I stopped in a pet store and was able to hold a kitten they had for sale up next to a puppy. I kept playing with the kitten and completely fell in love with her, so I adopted her on the spot!

I already have one cat, a black domestic shorthair named Ariel who I adopted from my local animal shelter. I usually don't like pet stores that sell cats and dogs, "puppy and kitten mills" where the animals are unhealthy and overpriced. Especially because there are so many cats and dogs in shelters that desperately need homes. I frequently make donations to support local shelters in Boston, both money and old blankets (they always need blankets!).

But this pet store only sells a few cats and dogs, always purebred animals from reputable local breeders, and they take good care of their critters. In fact, I bought my python from them a few years ago. It's not a chain store, and the employees are very knowledgable. So I like and trust them.

Anyway, the kitten was the only cat in the store, and the people working in the store had been giving her lots of attention and love. She was happy and healthy, and came from a local breeder who specializes in Burmese cats. I know I know....why buy a cat when you can adopt a shelter cat?.....but this kitten completely stole my heart, and I felt that since I already support my local shelters, I could make an "exception" this time. At least that's how I rationalized it. :)

I named her "Spooky." She's a 4 month old Burmese kitten, and she has a lavender-cream coat and yellow-gold eyes. Her body is pretty strange (but normal for the breed)....hind legs longer than the front and her body is long and thin. She's very small but incredibly wiry and strong. When she plays, she leaps around like some bizarre kangaroo-crossed-with-a-ferret-with-long-legs Dr. Seuss kind of creature. Small. Strange. Perfect. :)

Three pics of Spooky today. Successfully taking pictures of a hyperactive kitten with the Sidekick's slow-scan camera is kind of like trying to catch tachyeons with an old piece of flypaper. I think I took 50 bad pics just to capture the three bad ones. :)