Crafty Ninja Studio: 1st Caturday - Getting a buddy for Miles

Late summer this year, my friend and roommate got the news she was waiting for - there was an opening for her to move closer to where her daughter lives, in her budget, and in a nice area. Which was awesome news - and meant time for me to find a new roommate for me, and one for Miles.

Miles is an awesome dog who happens to inhabit the body of a cat.

He is playful, snuggly, knows exactly when I need to be distracted from life... but I can't live alone with him. He needs someone here when I'm not, and I work full time. He and I lived alone for about 6 months, and he hated it, and whenever I was home I had him all over me 24/7. When we moved in with another friend who had a cat, he got a lot calmer and happier.

Fast forward to living with my last roommate, who has 2 cats and 2 dogs, Miles was in heaven. He always had someone to play with and was never lonely, though sometimes he would hide in my room - even extroverts need "me" time!

Knowing she and her pets were moving soon, I started screening people for roommate compatibility and found a match - but no pets.

While everything was going through, one day I looked out of the kitchen window while I was getting lunch ready for work, and saw my roommate standing in the driveway talking to a neighbor, with a very uncomfortable look on her face and a black tail with a white tip swishing in her arms.

I walked outside to ask her what was going on, and she turned toward me with a very small kitten wiggling in her hands, and told me "I was just explaining that I can't keep her..." and gave me a tentative look. The other lady couldn't keep her, and my roommate already had 4 animals who were going with her on her cross-country move. I couldn't resist the little black and white face staring at me, and asked to hold her.

Seriously, how do you say no to this face?.

She settled right down, though she was rooting in my hands for the food smell and had a very sore foot. I had my roommate bring out a piece of turkey for her, and decided that since I would have had to find a friend for Miles anyways, it may as well be this desperate creature looking for a home in my arms. I named her Kitana after watching her attack the food, and her vehement protests at anything that touched her hurt paw, including any animals that got too close for about a week. She spent most of that first week alone in my room healing before she was ready for the other animals.

Her namesake, from the Mortal Kombat game series

We initially thought the sore foot was broken, but on closer inspection there was a piece of kitten tooth embedded in the bottom, probably from playing with a litter mate. I pulled it out and coated the hole with triple antibiotic ointment. (Yes this is a fairly common problem, and yes it can turn serious, she went to the vet the day after the tooth came out to get stronger antibiotics and a checkup.)

While all of this was happening, the person who was supposed to become my roommate sent me a text on the day he was supposed to come look at the place - he'd found another place, for cheaper, and was moving in that same day. Annoyance and last-minute scramble aside, a neighbor had a cousin who needed a place on the same day I needed a new roommate, and who also happened to be laid-back and nerdy too, which is obviously pretty sweet. Ironically, she's not much of a cat person by her own admission, but Kitana and she have developed a pretty adorable friendship, and my new roommate thinks she's more of a dog than a cat. In fairness, so is her big brother.