Louis Pink

As my daughter and I walked up the back way to town the other day, we heard a distinct call for help. Low and behold, we discovered a cute little kitten sitting in some tall grass. We played with him for a few minutes, and then continued on our way. Of course, when we walked home, there he was again, except this time he recognized us and his cries were louder and more urgent. We said hello and did our best to leave him behind, without success. "We can't keep him," I told my daughter, "but we can find him a home."

Those with soft hearts for animals have a hard time in Costa Rica. While it's not as bad as in other parts of the world, animals are treated much differently. More often than not, dogs are kept tied up, and cats, well, cats just get to hang around. In nearly five years, our neighbors have gone through countless dogs and cats. Some of the dogs were poisoned, others shooed away after their cute puppy phase ended. As for the cats, who knows. I have had to shut off the part of me that wants to extend compassion. If I rescued all of the discarded animals I see, we would be overrun with pets. We take good care of what we have.

Once we got home, we had to address the "find him a home" part. We couldn't zip over to the local pound where there is a long waiting list for kittens, like we did in Colorado. Putting up "found kitten" signs would be good for a laugh at best. The reality of finding this kitty a home was that he had already found one with us. We made a deal with the girls, that if our cat free friends wanted him, great, if not we could keep him. It turned out that our friends want a proven rat catcher. We couldn't promise anything, so they passed.

So here we are with a new addition to our family. One who, despite our efforts of turning a blind eye, cried loud enough and found himself a home. The name? Well, when you put two little girls, who happen to be 8 and 3, to the task of coming up with a name, you're bound to get a classic. Our new cat is Louis Pink.