Students team up to save a kitten

Adeline Griffith
Contributor

Alexis Copeland, mother of two and a photography student at Washtenaw Community College, found an unexpected purpose in her life last month.

She was driving down Michigan Avenue when she spotted something unusual.   

“I saw this little fluff ball. It was running back and forth across the road and then I realized it was a kitten,” said Copeland.

Copeland pulled over on the busy road, determined to help. She spoke to another woman who had likewise noticed the kitten, and was fretting that she hit it. The kitten was underneath the woman’s car, and at first they couldn’t tell if it was alive or not.

“Thankfully It wasn’t dead, it was just trying to hide or something. I pulled it out from under this lady’s tire and took it home, “ said Copeland.

The black and white kitten weighed about a pound, and barely had any teeth grown in yet, according to Copeland. She would cry when she ate and had to be picked up and carried to the litter box.

“It was obviously too young to be away from its mom. It was so terrified, I could feel it shaking for hours after I took it home,” said Copeland. She guessed the kitten was merely a couple weeks old.

The next day, Copeland, desperate to get the kitten off her hands, announced her situation to the students in her black and white photography class, and asked if anyone would be willing to adopt her.

Kathy Devlin, a fellow photography student, offered and made arrangements to come and get her later that day.

“I knew she was in a jam. It wasn’t that she didn’t want it, she just couldn’t afford it with two kids and one on the way,” said Devlin.  “I had a mama cat at home with kittens about the same age. I figured one more couldn’t hurt.”

The kitten was dubbed Monochrome.

Monochrome rode home on Devlin’s lap, happy and unafraid. However, once they got home, things took a turn for the worse.

“She was afraid of everything at my house. She hid under the porch, watching. I had to coax her out to make sure she ate, said Devlin. “My kittens were very curious about her but she would hiss at them and go back under the porch.”

Although it wasn’t immediate, Monochrome acclimated to her new home.

“Her personality is hilarious. She’s so inquisitive about everything,” said Devlin.

Monochrome began to play with some of the other kittens on a Saturday evening, and was nursing alongside the rest of the litter on Sunday.

Copeland commented that her unexpected kitten discovery came just around a time when she had been reflecting on her purpose in life.

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