Penny was a TINY little tuxedo kitten.  She has white on her face all the way on her belly, white paws, and two small black splotches on either side of her nose.  I brought her home on September 12, 1999.  Though I had been thinking about getting a kitten for several weeks, it was a spur of the moment purchase (a BAD idea and one I never recommend to anybody, so I'm more than a little astonished that I did it).  I turned in to a parking lot when I saw a sign that said "Pet Shop."  I chose Penny immediately because she was sweet, lively, tiny, downright cuddly - and I hated where she was. I was told - but didn't believe, to be blunt - that she was 6 weeks old.  She weighed less than 1 pound - even today (September 30), with her HEALTHY appetite, she weighed in at just 1 pound 3 ounces.  This is a TINY baby - she was probably jerked away from her mother at 5 weeks old or younger, and is definitely not even the size of a typical 7-week-old kittten.

Penny is very playful - a bouncer, runner, and a climber.  She's also very vocal, and a "lap cat". So far she's managed to climb up on the sofa twice, and adroitly leaped into the garbage can and knocked it over.  When she isn't sitting curled up in a corner or on a lap or shoulder somewhere, she's bouncing around. 

Update September 30 - Penny has been eating like a very small horse for the last week or so.  She has diarrhea off and on: Dr. Pearson thinks it is likely the canned cat food she has been wolfing down.  The game plan now is to soak Kitten Chow in water till it's mushy, then mash it with a fork - the canned food may be too "hearty" for her little digestive system.  She is also going to be on a course of Amoxi-Drops. She doesn't quite have the litterbox down reliably, but she's getting there.  She has HUGE eyes - tiny little face, with these big bug eyes: she looks like a small-scale version of a Japanese anime drawing.  Both vets have told me that it does no good to give a kitten shots before 8 weeks old - their body isn't developed enough to make appropriate use of the vaccine.  Penny is still so small (at 7 weeks old) that it may be another full 2 weeks before she can have her "real" shots.

Update August 4, 2000, nearly 1 year later:  PennyAnte has grown into a beautiful cat.  She loves Bob, jumps into his lap and gets in his face until he pets her vigorously.  She still snuggles and cuddles with all the cats.  And, she's definitely no longer tiny!