Introducing Rui!

You may have noticed me and an adorable kitten taking a selfie in the blog post about the housewarming party. Yes, that's our new kitten! We've only had him for two weeks and I waited to post about him because we weren't sure at first if we were going to keep him.

The story begins... Bert goes to the bar and comes home with two kittens!

Rui on the left and his brother on the right.

Bert had been told by the bartender that the kittens were fixed and had their shots. He thought, "What a deal! All the expensive stuff is done." Well, he didn't realize that there's no way kittens that young could have been fixed! I estimated they were only five weeks old. They probably should still be with their momma! You can see in the photos that their eyes are still blue. As an age indicator, kittens' eyes usually are blue until six weeks of age.

Willow, my elderly cat that I brought from Canada, of course hated the little monsters. Calvin, the foster-dog-that-never-left, wanted to eat them. So they were confined to the spare bedroom while I decided what to do. With the number of animals we already had and the high probability we could quickly find a home for these cuties, I decided to put them up for adoption with AYUDA. Within a few days, we got a bite!

This little dude was very active. He wouldn't sit still for a photo!

Rui is the smaller of the two, and very vocal! He meows all the time. 

The kitten brothers did everything together. You can see how much smaller Rui is compared to his brother. He is the runt!

A lovely young couple came across the lake from San Marcos to meet the kittens. They loved them both but decided they really only had the time and means to take one of them. Oh no! The brothers were going to be separated. Not ideal but as the guy said half-jokingly as he scooped up the tabby, "Life is hard. Let's go!"

So we were left with one tiny tabby-and-white kitten...who cried and cried at being alone. So of course I had to let him into the bed to sleep with me and then there was no turning back! We had officially been adopted by a kitten from a bar.  :)

He had already named himself at that point: ruidoso, meaning noisy. We shortened it to Rui (ROO-ee).

First order of business, a bath to rid him of some of his fleas and mites.

Teeny Rui napping after his first bath.

Being cute.

Rui on Bert's head!

Supervising my work.

A kitten's life is so hard -- eat, play, sleep, repeat.

It's a bit of a hassle juggling the animals in the house but it's so worth it for the number of times I have a smile on my face. Rui loves to snuggle, pounce, and climb my bare leg. And his meow, while demanding at times, is absolutely precious! Here's a short video that I took the night before our housewarming party. So cute!