Little Miss Bessie

On Friday the 13th, I met what could be a huge new terror part in my Poppop and Gram's life - little Bessie. After losing her Sara after years and years of love, my Gram was feeling lost - as anyone who has just lost a beloved cat and only pet would, of course. Gram found herself at the Jersey State Feline Fanciers Cat Show (this is the cat show the rescue I started has attended to show off adoptable kitties since I was personally invited 7 years ago when doing the "50 Cats House") in January and she fell in love with a kitten's photo. That pictured kitten would be Bessie. :-) (Note: Yup, that's my super aunt, Brit Knitter, in the framed photo in the background - haha! Gotcha in a photo!


Little Bessie is definitely one cute little thing, indeed. She is a Snow Bengal that was bred in New Jersey. Now, I was thinking that the world of kitty breeds was being expanded the way Bessie was described to me, but as it turns out the "snow" part of her name is just a jazzy way of including her color when describing her breed. I love Bengals and have since I attended that first cat show years ago and first saw them (the more traditional, dark, marble ones). The "Snow Bengal" certainly isn't any ugly looking version either! :-)

I can't be okay with the fact little Bessie came from a breeder, but I also can't deny that Gram seems so in love with her already and is very happy. For my own sanity, let me add this though the the entry: Each day it is estimated that 10,000 humans are born in the U.S. – and each day 70,000 puppies and kittens are born too. As long as these birth rates exist, there will never be enough homes for all the animals. Every year, 6 - 12 million* animals are euthanized in shelters. The biggest and best solution to this horrible truth is to adopt animals only from shelters and have them spayed or neutered to prevent the cruel overpopulation that condemns millions of animals a year to death in the United States. Still tempted by these too cute photos of Bessie? If you follow the above Bengal link, towards the bottom of that page is a section called "Find a Cat" with shelters that currently have Bengals desperately seeking homes.

Oh and on a somewhat similar note (the aunts and family), check out the super sweet valentine gift I got from my aunt:

Chocolates, organic strawberries and money - can't complain about that!

* - No organization in the United States has a reliable estimate of how many dogs and cats are euthanized annually by shelters in this country.