Sooty, the Green-Eyed Kitten by Joe L Wheeler

In the faraway days when the land was young, and still very sparsely settled, domestic cats were very rare in America. They were quite unknown in the backwoods settlement where the Alden family lived in their snug log cabin. So when Mr. Alden returned home from a trip to the distant trading post with a tiny, fat kitten in his saddlebag, the twins, Makepeace and Prudence, were astonished as well as delighted at the sight of the lively little creature. One morning, as the kitten leaped for a mouse, he missed and landed in a large crock of jam instead—and that started the wild events that followed….

This is the tenth book in The Good Lord Made Them All series by Joe L. Wheeler. Owney, Smoky, Wildfire, Dick, Spot, Amelia, Togo, Tawny, Stinky, and Sooty make up the set and feature fascinating stories of many different animals, including dogs, cats, horses, jaguars, skunks, and squirrels.