So, someone stole a kitten from work. I still can't believe it. Yesterday, Ellen called and left a message for me. "Meghan, Scrumptuous is missing. Did she get adopted and maybe you just put the paperwork in a different place? I'm really, really hoping that's the case, because she's just... not here."

I wanted it to be the case. But the only conversation I had about Scrumtuous all day was during a phone call. The woman who had a hold on her called the front office and said she wanted to extend the hold until Friday. She didn't think it was humane to adopt her during the week if she had to go to work the next day. When I told her we couldn't do that, she got all bitchy and was like, "Well I don't think that's very fair." Too fucking bad, is what I wanted to say, but instead I was really nice and explained that a kitten in a new home would actually be fine if she had to go to work the next day, that she could leave her in the bathroom with a litterbox, food, and water, and that really, she shouldn't expect to spend a lot of personal time with the kitten in the first day, that she should just let the kitten adjust to new surroundings. She seemed encouraged, even amiable. "Maybe I'll come adopt her tonight," the woman said. The next thing I heard about Scrumptuous was Ellen's message.

My stomach was in knots for the first half of the day, wondering if it was my fault, wondering what we could do to get her back. Then I made myself calm down and realized a couple of things. 1) I didn't steal the kitten, and I didn't leave that cage's padlock unlocked. It's not my fault. 2) There's nothing we can do to get her back.

I'm so pissed. I feel really angry that whoever took her probably tucked her into their jacket and walked right out, either through the back (where the dog walkers take the outside dogs), or right under my nose. And that just makes me sick.

So all we can do now is prevent it from happening again. No more unsupervised customers for even 2 minutes. No more unlocked cages AT ALL. If a kitten is missing, we can look at who volunteered that day and who worked that day, and we can know that it was either staff or volunteers who were at fault. I cannot handle us operating any other way. It's just too nerve racking.

And to whoever took Scrumptuous... You suck. You've made a whole lot of people really worried and unhappy. I just hope you're taking good care of her...