I have a big family update to share today! We’ve got a new kitten in our home—meet little Gladys Jean. She’s an 8-week-old lynx point Siamese kitten who came to us from our beloved vet who fostered her until she was weaned this month. John and I didn’t have any immediate plans to add to our family of pets this year, but fate took over in a very unexpected way.

Back in late July, we noticed our 1-year-old cat Joe acting sort of funny in his litter box. He wouldn’t come out and just seemed to squat and squat with no results (sorry for the TMI moment). We quickly took him to the vet where he was set up comfortably and then carefully evaluated for a suspected urinary blockage. He ultimately stayed overnight, and we found out in the morning that he still couldn’t use the litter box successfully, so he was rushed into surgery. There are, of course, so many details that I’m glossing over right now (send me a message if you want a more thorough breakdown of what happened), but our sweet little Joe just couldn’t be saved.

We were caught completely off guard and weren’t even there with him when he passed away. Since he was going into surgery for, presumably, hours, we had stayed home to wait for updates by phone. John and I were in a state of shock for days after getting the phone call that he couldn’t be saved. The only thing that allowed me to move forward was knowing that our vet was with Joe in his final moments. She had fostered him when he was a baby, and loved him just as much as we did (and he loved her, too). I know she gave him all the love he needed to pass away peacefully without feeling alone. We miss him every single day. Joe was our treasure, and I don’t regret a single moment of our lives together. You can read more about his very shaky start to life and his adoption story here in case you’re curious.

But now we get to backtrack and talk about how miss Gladys came to be. When I brought Joe in for his emergency overnight stay at the animal hospital, our vet was trying to lighten the mood and showed me videos and photos of a new kitten she was fostering in her home. She told me that she suspected that the kitten was related to our Joe because she’s a colorpoint Siamese breed, too (Joe was a flame point Siamese), and came from the same home situation that Joe did. They could be cousins, or maybe had the same dad? Anyway, I loved seeing the photos of little Gladys that day, and I definitely thought to myself, “Maybe when Joe’s recovered we could ask the vet if that little kitten needs a new home…” I wasn’t seriously considering it, though.

The following day when we unexpectedly lost Joe, I was absolutely distraught, but it wasn’t long before thoughts of Gladys popped into my head. It was like the world was reminding me that there was still hope for the future and we still had lots of love to give. Knowing that Gladys was related to Joe made it feel like she was already somehow part of our family. I eventually texted our vet to thank her for all that she did for Joe, and then asked if she needed a home for Gladys because we’d love to adopt her.

As I’m sure you figured out, we did indeed get to adopt Gladys (our vet affectionately named her Gladys Jean, so we are following suit with that). It took four weeks to the day, I think, from Joe’s passing before we could officially bring little G home because she needed to be weaned from her mom, but she’s here now and I’m so head-over-heels in love with her. She has settled in really easily and is just the happiest little kitten. There are some things about her that definitely remind me of Joe, which is sweet beyond measure, but she also has so many quirks all her own. We do suspect that she might be partially or completely blind, but that is something we’re choosing not to worry about right now because she’s, otherwise, very energetic and high-functioning!

It has only been a little over a week since we brought Gladys home, and we’re all still adjusting (Marlo isn’t quite so sure about her yet…), but adopting this kitten has been the very best way to heal our hearts after last month’s tragedy. When our vet was telling me about Gladys that day back in July, she sweetly showed Joe the photos and videos, too, so I like to think that he had a chance to see her before he passed away. At any rate, I’m sure you’ll be seeing a whole lot more of our Gladys Jean here on the blog over the years to come, so I wanted to make sure you heard her whole story. Thanks for supporting our family, as always, and I hope you’ll consider adopting a rescue pet yourselves! If you needed a sign to go for it, consider this your fateful challenge. Pets rock.