The Great Kitten Challenge

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Chapter 1: Rex Runs Aways

  Chapter 2: Alone in the Dark

  Chapter 3: A Surprising Discovery

  Chapter 4: Okay for Now

  Chapter 5: Gone!

  Chapter 6: Cat Worries

  Chapter 7: The Big Pitch

  Chapter 8: The Big Kitty Home Hunt

  Chapter 9: A Late Addition

  Chapter 10: Please, Take a Kitten!

  Rex Runs Away

  Usually when Kyle Blake played fetch with Rex, his yellow Lab, the dog brought the ball right back so Kyle could throw it again.

  But today Rex had other plans. Instead of returning the ball, the yellow Lab stopped, ball still in his mouth, a few feet away from where Kyle sat. He stared at Kyle and wagged his tail, but he didn’t drop the ball. When Kyle reached out to take it, Rex took off running.

  “Rex, come back here!” Kyle called, laughing.

  Rex ignored him and ran in circles around the yard. He flipped his head, tossed the ball, and caught it when it bounced. He eventually stopped in front of Kyle again, but took off the instant Kyle moved.

  Kyle sighed. Rex wasn’t in the mood to listen today.

  Just then, Kyle’s best friend, Mia Perez, walked up. She lived right next door, and since it was Saturday, they’d made plans to hang out. “What’s the matter?” she asked.

  “Rex isn’t following the rules for playing fetch,” Kyle said.

  As if he was determined to prove Kyle right, Rex raced in big circles around both kids. Kyle dove to catch him and ended up belly flopping in the dirt.

  Mia laughed. “He’s having too much fun to play by the rules,” she said.

  “Well, I like playing ball too much to let him get away with it,” Kyle said. He stood up and brushed off his T-shirt and jeans, which were now covered in dirt.

  “What are you going to do?” Mia asked, still giggling.

  “Remind Rex that he’s the dog, and I’m the person,” Kyle said firmly. “That means I’m the boss.”

  But before Kyle could do anything, Rex trotted over to where they stood and dropped the ball at Mia’s feet.

  Mia giggled and held onto the dog’s collar. “I’ve got him,” she said.

  “Let’s take him for a W-A-L-K,” Kyle suggested, opening the back door. “I’ll get the L-E-A-S-H.” He headed inside. Rex pulled away from Mia and barked at the door.

  When Kyle came back outside, he hid the leash behind his back. The dog whined and turned in excited circles.

  Mia laughed. “I don’t think you’re fooling him,” she said. “Rex is too smart. He knows what we’re doing.”

  “Maybe he’s learned how to spell!” Kyle said.

  “I guess that means we need new code words,” Mia said.

  Kyle was glad Rex was so smart, but sometimes it got the dog into trouble.

  “Rex, sit!” Kyle commanded again.

  Thankfully, this time Rex listened. As soon as Kyle attached the leash to the dog’s collar, Rex lunged toward the gate. He pulled Kyle all the way across the yard to the sidewalk.

  “Heel!” Kyle said.

  Rex pulled. Kyle tugged on his collar and repeated the command until Rex finally slowed down and walked by Kyle’s side.

  Mia sighed. “I wish cats were as easy to train as dogs,” she said. Her cat, Misty, was always getting into trouble.

  “Is Misty being bad?” Kyle asked. “More than usual, I mean.”

  “Yes!” Mia exclaimed, shaking her head. “She keeps playing with shampoo bottles in the bathtub.”

  “What’s wrong with that?” Kyle asked. “Plastic bottles don’t break.”

  “But the tops come off,” Mia said. “Or Misty claws holes in them. Then she leaves sticky paw prints all over the place. And it takes forever to get a whole bottle of shampoo suds out of a bathtub.”

  Kyle and Mia came to a stop at the corner. On the opposite side of the street, the vacant lots and woods looked dark and gloomy, even during the day.

  “He knows ‘sit’ and ‘heel,’” Kyle said. “Let’s see if he remembers how to stay.”

  Kyle held a hand out in front of Rex’s nose. “Rex, sit,” he said.

  Rex sat and looked up at Kyle, wagging his tail back and forth. Kyle set Rex’s long, retractable leash down, and Mia put her foot on of it, just in case.

  “Stay,” Kyle instructed. Then he turned and walked down the sidewalk. Rex stayed right where he was.

  Kyle stopped a few feet away and turned back to face Mia and Rex. “Come!” he said.

  Mia lifted her foot off the leash, and Rex trotted right over and stopped in front of him.

  “Good boy!” Kyle said. He leaned over to pick up Rex’s leash. Suddenly, Rex took off running toward the vacant lots. His retractable leash stretched to its limit, pulling Kyle after him.

  “Rex, stop!” Kyle shouted, chasing after his dog. “Heel!”

  Mia raced after them and caught up to Rex and Kyle just as the dog came to a stop in front of an old shed partially hidden in the trees. Rex stood in front of the door barking at something inside.

  “What’s in there?” Mia whispered.

  “I don’t know,” Kyle muttered. “But if Rex is sounding the alarm, it can’t be good.”

  Alone in the Dark

  “Quiet, Rex!” Kyle said, trying to keep his voice down. He definitely didn’t want whatever Rex was barking at in the shed to hear him. Especially since they didn’t know what it was yet. He grabbed Rex’s collar and tried to pull the dog away from the door, but Rex wouldn’t budge.

  “Maybe there’s a snake inside,” Mia suggested. She shuddered at the thought. She didn’t mind seeing pet snakes, but she definitely didn’t want to run into one in the wild. Especially in this dark, abandoned shed. “Or a raccoon.”

  “Or a skunk,” Kyle said, making a face. It wouldn’t be the first time Rex had found a skunk.

  A few months ago, Rex had found one sniffing around the backyard and decided to investigate. He was always up for making friends with new animals. But the skunk hadn’t been feeling quite as friendly. He’d sprayed Rex. It had taken Kyle hours to scrub the smell off in the bathtub.

  Rex suddenly stopped barking and sniffed at the door. Kyle put his finger to his lips. Mia nodded in agreement, and they both listened, but the only sound they heard was Rex’s loud sniffing.

  “It might not be something scary,” Mia said. “Maybe it’s just something quiet.”

  “Like what?” Kyle asked. He was a little nervous, too, but he didn’t want Mia to know.

  Mia shrugged. “Maybe it’s a ghost?” she suggested.

  “I don’t think dogs can smell ghosts,” Kyle said.

  Rex whined again and pawed at the door to the shed.

  “Maybe not, but he definitely smells something,” Mia said.

  Kyle moved a little closer to the shed. “Did you hear that?” he asked, putting his ear to the door.

  “What?” Mia asked as she moved up next to him.

  “It sounded like something was crying,” Kyle said. He grabbed the door handle and pulled it toward him just a little. The rusty hinge squeaked loudly in protest as the door opened a crack.

  Rex whined.

  “What is it?” Mia asked, peering over Kyle’s shoulder.

  “I don’t know,” Kyle said. “It’s too dark in there to see anything. There’s only one way to find out.”

  Kyle pulled the door the rest of the way open and looked inside. As sunlight flooded the shed, he gasped as he caught sight of what Rex had alr
eady smelled.

  A Surprising Discovery

  “It’s kittens,” Kyle said. “Come here and look!”

  Mia squeezed into the doorway next to him to get a better look. “Oh, they’re so cute!” she said.

  In the corner of the cluttered, dirty shed, three little balls of fluff — two orange and one gray — were sleeping on a dirty towel.

  “They’re so tiny!” Kyle exclaimed. “I hope they’re not sick.”

  One of the orange kittens opened its eyes and meowed quietly. It seemed almost too weak to move much.

  “I wonder where their mother is,” Mia said, looking around.

  “I don’t know,” Kyle said, “but I think we should probably go get my mom.” Kyle’s mother was a vet with her own clinic. She’d know what was wrong with the kittens and what they should do.

  “You stay here with Rex and the kittens,” Mia said. “I’ll go get your mom and be right back.”

  After Mia left, Rex stretched out so his nose almost touched the kittens. Kyle kept an eye out in case the mother cat decided to return. While he waited, he gently petted the three kittens.

  Soon, Mia returned with Kyle’s mom. They were carrying a box, towels, dishes, cat food, and water.

  “Let’s see what we have here,” Kyle’s mom said. She carefully picked up the kittens and placed them on a clean towel inside the box.

  “Why would their mother just leave them here?” Mia asked.

  “She might be out hunting,” Dr. Blake said. “Or something could have happened to her that kept her from coming back.”

  Dr. Blake put the dishes on the floor of the shed. She filled one with cat food and the other with water. “We’ll leave food in case the mother comes back,” she said. “That way, she’ll keep coming back even though the kittens are gone.”

  “Are we taking them home with us?” Kyle asked.

  “We’re taking them to the clinic so I can check them out,” his mom said. “That way we can at least feed them in case their mother doesn’t come back. Good thing you two found them when you did!”

  Kyle and Mia gave each other a thumbs-up. Then Kyle patted Rex’s head. “You’re a hero, Rex,” he said.

  Rex wagged his tail, but he didn’t take his eyes off the kittens.

  Okay for Now

  Dr. Blake carried the box with the kittens into the clinic and down a short hallway to the exam rooms. “I asked Angie to get one of the rooms ready before I left, just in case,” she explained.

  They pushed open the door to the first exam room. Angie Gorman, the vet tech, was waiting there to help.

  Mia followed them into the room, but Kyle paused in the doorway.

  “Rex, you can’t come in,” he said. He grabbed Rex’s collar and started to lead him down the hall, but the dog let out a loud whine.

  “It’s okay, Rex can come in,” Dr. Blake said. “But he has to be quiet.”

  Kyle let go of Rex’s collar, and the dog immediately trotted into the exam room. He sat down next to the exam table and gazed up at the box of kittens sitting on top of it, watching them closely.

  “Are the kittens going to be okay?” Mia asked, looking worried.

  “I’ll know more after I examine them,” Dr. Blake said, “but I think so. They look pretty healthy.”

  “I bet Rex found them just in time,” Kyle said. He reached down to scratch Rex behind his ears. Rex rolled his head back and let his tongue hang out in appreciation.

  “Do you know how old they are?” Mia asked.

  Dr. Blake picked up the largest kitten and looked at its teeth. The kitten squirmed in her hands. “This little guy is about seven weeks old,” she said.

  “Is that old enough to eat regular cat food?” Kyle asked.

  “Yes, they can drink water and eat kitten chow,” Dr. Blake replied. She was quiet for a moment as she listened to the kitten’s heart and checked its ears.

  When she was done, Dr. Blake picked up the second yellow tabby and examined it. “I think we should plan to give them kitten formula for a few days, though. That will help them get stronger faster,” she explained.

  “We’ll need to bottle feed them at first since they’re so little,” Angie added, holding up a tiny baby bottle.

  Dr. Blake finished checking the second kitten and picked up the third one. The gray-and-white kitten was only half the size of its two siblings.

  “Mia and I can feed them,” Kyle offered. “We don’t mind, do we, Mia?”

  “Not at all,” Mia agreed. “I’d love to help take care of them. I already have plenty of experience from taking care of Misty when she was a baby.”

  “I don’t know,” Angie said. “They’ll need formula every three hours.”

  “No problem,” Kyle said. “The kittens can stay in my room, and —”

  “The kittens will stay here in the clinic, where I can check on them,” his mom interrupted.

  “But Mia and I want to take care of them,” Kyle protested.

  “You and Mia can clean the cage and feed them before and after school,” his mom replied. “Angie and I will take care of them at night.”

  “I’ll take a night shift, too,” Lillian, Dr. Blake’s receptionist, offered from the doorway. “How are they?”

  “They need medicine for ear mites and worms,” Dr. Blake said. “Time and food should take care of the rest. And then they’ll need homes.”

  “I wish I could have one,” Mia said. “But Misty doesn’t like other cats.”

  “Misty doesn’t like anything!” Kyle exclaimed. “She hates Rex, and she hisses at me.”

  “She likes me!” Mia said. “That’s all that matters.”

  “I’d love to take one, but we have three dogs,” Angie said. “And they love to chase cats.”

  “We’ll have to put up a sign in the office,” Dr. Blake said. “Maybe one of our other patients will be interested. It looks like we’ve got two boys and one little, gray-and-white girl. They’re cute, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find someone who’s interested in taking them home.”

  “Are you two ready to feed them?” Angie asked.

  “Yes!” Kyle and Mia answered.

  Kyle didn’t ask if he could have a kitten. He was happy with Rex. Besides, his mom was right. The kittens were so cute, finding good homes would be easy.

  Gone!

  The next morning, Kyle’s alarm went off bright and early. He rolled over and looked at the clock. For a minute, Kyle was confused. It was only six a.m. Why was his alarm going off so early?

  Suddenly, he remembered — it was time to feed the kittens!

  Kyle hit the off button and jumped out of bed. He quickly got dressed and ran downstairs to the kitchen. He had to feed Rex before he went anywhere else.

  His mom was already in the kitchen fixing a cup of coffee when he came in.

  “I’ll be ready to head to the clinic in a second,” Kyle said.

  “Okay,” his mom said with a smile. “I’m glad to see you’re being so responsible about taking care of the kittens.”

  “Rex found them, so that makes them my responsibility,” Kyle said as he poured dog food into Rex’s bowl. Rex finished it off almost before Kyle finished pouring it. “Ready when you are.”

  Kyle’s mom always went to the clinic early. She had to check on the animals that had stayed overnight. Some of them were recovering from operations. Luckily, her clinic was right next to their house, so they didn’t have far to walk.

  Mia was waiting for them at the front door when they walked up. Kyle’s mom unlocked the door, and everyone hurried inside. They turned on the lights and saw a piece of paper had been taped to the door leading to the exam rooms.

  “Looks like Angie fed the kittens at three a.m.,” Dr. Blake said, reading the note. She looked at Kyle and Mia. “Do you two need any help feeding them?
”

  “No thanks,” Kyle said. “I think we’re all set. Angie showed us what we need to do last night.”

  Dr. Blake stopped in her office while Kyle and Mia went straight to the kittens’ cage. The kittens were already awake and waiting for them.

  Mia carefully moved the kittens from their cage back to the box and carried it into an exam room. While she mixed up the formula, Kyle cleaned out the cage and put fresh water in the dishes for the kittens so they wouldn’t be thirsty.

  When Kyle got to the exam room, his mom let Rex into the clinic. The dog went straight to the kitten box on the floor.

  “I could hear him barking,” his mom explained.

  “Rex really likes the kittens,” Kyle explained.

  Kyle and Mia sat down on the floor with three bottles filled with formula. Rex stretched out in front of the open door to guard the kittens.

  “You feed the boys,” Mia said. “I’ll feed Smoke.”

  “Smoke?” Kyle asked, looking over at her. “Is that the girl?”

  Mia nodded and picked up the smallest kitten. “Yep,” she said. “Since her fur is the color of smoke.”

  Kyle picked up the larger of the two boy kittens. “What should we name her brothers?” he asked.

  “Hmm. They’re both orange,” Mia said. “How about Tiger for the bigger one and Cheeto for the smaller one?”

  “I like those names,” Kyle said. “Time to eat, Tiger.”

  Tiger guzzled the formula. When it was gone, Kyle put the kitten back in the box and picked up Cheeto to feed him. When the second kitten finished his bottle, Smoke was still eating. She was smaller and weaker than her brothers, so she ate more slowly.

  “She’s almost done,” Mia said.

  “Okay,” Kyle said. He checked the clock on the wall. He and Mia still had to eat breakfast before their school bus came. But when he turned to put Cheeto back in the box, Kyle gasped. “Tiger is gone!”

  Cat Worries

  “How could you lose a kitten?” Mia asked frantically. She dug through the towels in the box to make sure Tiger wasn’t hidden somewhere inside. But he was nowhere to be found.