"Chaos reigns" or "We're back to normal"

Well, I had terrific intentions to get caught up with Photo Friday Flashback and Shoot Me, but a few "things" tripped up my schedule.

Furry, sweet, adorable things with claws...

Meet "Ninja" - she's roughly six months old and was lost. Charming found her wandering his college campus on Thursday evening and he couldn't get her to stop following him...long story short, we headed over Thursday night and picked her up to save her from a sure fate as coyote food or a future destiny as an owl pellet. She never stops purring and fell asleep in Buttercup's lap in the car. A quick trip to the vet to check for a microchip and we had to decide. No microchip and not fixed, as well as a bad case of ear mites meant very little chance of finding her owners. What decision? For us, we'd already decided. She was ours if we wanted her. We wanted her.
She's all black and has topaz-colored eyes. She's so beautiful and sweet-tempered. Ninja has adopted Buttercup and Buttercup has adopted Ninja. She now has a microchip and will be fixed on Wednesday. She put a smile in our hearts...a sincerely joyous, lit-from-within smile.

But wait, the story gets better. You might remember that we lost One Lucky Baby last summer. We were heartbroken. Then we fostered Oliver and Slinky in the hopes that they'd be a good fit. They weren't and we returned them to the vet to find homes that they'd be happier in. We put getting a kitten or two on the back burner, telling the veterinarian to put us on the list for a kitten in spring, when kittens are abandoned to them in need of extra love. Well, it is spring.
When we walked in Friday morning, they seemed to be expecting us. It turned out that they were because Cajun was ready to go home. Yep, they'd left a message on the machine Thursday night asking us if we still wanted a kitten and we hadn't yet listened to Thursday's messages. Isn't that funny?So, meet "Cajun". She and her litter were dumped in a trash bin (!) at roughly 4 weeks. Only Cajun survived. When she was brought in, she weighed 13 oz. Now she's a brawny 1 lb 13 oz and roughly 7-8 weeks. She's got six toes, greenish-grey eyes, and tiger coloring that normally goes to male cats. The vet told us she's special and they were right. She's amazing. She's Valiant's baby (but that is Buttercup's chest she's sleeping on). She is not wasting any time hiding, this little bit of kitten. Instead, she's decided she's going to slay dragons, she's such a scrappy little thing.
So far, we've been really fortunate...Sam I Am is tolerating the new arrivals and the dogs and the cats aren't fighting. We've only had one "oops" and that was no big deal. As you can see, the babies are playing. What you can't see in this picture. Cajun was charging Ninja, not the other way around! Charge and retreat with the tiny one going after the bigger one. It makes me laugh to watch them together.


So, yes, chaos reigns at the Nagle5 house...and, you know what? We wouldn't have it any other way. We now have 3 cats, 2 dogs, 4 koi, 1 hamster and 3 birds. 13 pets and they make us happy. Go figure.
P.S. I'm learning just how difficult it is to take pictures of black cats...unless they're up against something really light, they just don't show up.