We welcomed a new member to our family last week.

She's a tiny little thing, weighs about 2 pounds.

She's a gray and black tabby kitten we adopted from the Humane Society of Putnam County.

Our cat Gemini, who liked to roam outside for much of the day, was, sadly, hit by a car recently. My 7-year-old son Will, decidedly a cat person, took the loss hard.

But after he'd had some time to adjust, we started talking about the possibility of adding a new kitty to our household. My good friend Anastasia, whose 7-year-old son Paxton is a good friend of Will's, is a tireless volunteer for HSPC. She has taken Will out there on occasion, and when the time came for us to get another kitten, Will was adamant that we should adopt one from the shelter.

So last Friday, Will and I went out to the shelter ... just to look.

Yep, that worked.

Anyone who knows Will can tell you how long we were at the shelter trying to choose a kitten. I had a flashback to the week after Christmas, when Will took the $25 Wal-Mart gift card my mother had given him to the store to spend it.

He may as well have had a million dollars. I am not exaggerating when I say we were there for hours.

There were dozens of cats and kittens at the shelter, and Will had to hold, pet and talk to each one ... to give it a chance. I decided I didn't want to deal with any possible marking problems, so I told Will we had to get a girl.

That cut down on the options some.

Eventually, the competition had been whittled down to two girls ... a mostly white 7-month-old with tortoise shell markings on her nose, back and tail or an 8-week-old gray and black tiger kitty.

After giving it a bit of thought, Will decided he would like the smaller kitten, because he wanted a pet that was his since it was a tiny baby.

The people at the shelter had named the kitten Calypso, and Will thought briefly about keeping the name. But she had the misfortune of coming to us at a time when Will is into "The Flintstones" ... so be dubbed her Pebbles.

She's little, but she can hold her own. She is not afraid of our Jack Russell, Bruiser, and he has already ended up on the business end of a hissy fit or two.

The new kitten has caused quite an inner struggle for Bruiser. Instinctually, he knows he is supposed to want to hunt and kill small, furry things. But by nature he is a sweet dog, and what he actually wants is to love Pebbles and he her friend.

They're getting better. It's been a few days, and she's gotten to the point where she will let Bruiser sit on the couch with her and doesn't hiss at him.

And there's already no question as to who this kitten belongs to. She follows Will around, sitting on his lap while he does his homework, perching on the couch behind him while he watches TV, waiting at the bathroom door while he takes his showers and snuggling into bed next to him at night.

Pebbles had been in the shelter since she was a week old, dropped off there with her mother and siblings. Now she has a real home.

Will is still concerned about the kitties he left behind, though, and I think about them, too.

If you are in the market for a new pet, be it a dog or a cat, please consider adopting one of the animals living at the Humane Society of Putnam County.

Your best friend could be there waiting for you.