Stray Cats
Throughout my life I’ve had various cats find their way into my home and life. Lisa, a male cat, (I let the kids name him) has been with us for over ten years now. He’s the sweetest cat I’ve ever met and he loves people. He follows us to the mailbox or down the driveway when we take the garbage to the end of the street. He likes to curl up in whatever room has the most people in it. He likes to tease our Chihuahua and make poor little Sadie shiver. I still remember when he first showed up at our house. The neighbor was feeding him and so were we. Lisa was very skinny. His ribs were showing and his front claws had been removed. The neighbors didn’t know where the cat had come from, so my husband was going to take him to the animal shelter. I told my husband we needed to take care of the cat and try to find his home. We put up flyers and checked with the local vets, but no luck. At first Lisa slept in the garage and then finally finagled his way into the house. He managed to make friends with our grumpy cat, Bart. Lisa didn’t like it when my daughter brought home a new kitten, Maggie. But after six months, Maggie, Lisa and Bart were close friends. After Maggie ran off and Bart passed away, Lisa became more and more dependent on our hugs and kisses. He’s part of the family now and I can’t imagine not having Lisa around. I also like to think that Maggie has found a new home and is cuddled up in a chair with a nice family somewhere out there. 
Stray cats always seem to find my mom’s house, too. She had one stray cat stay with her for five years before the cat suddenly disappeared. Every day Mom would go out on long walks looking for the cat. Finally she found him a few blocks away sitting quietly in front of a house. The people living there told Mom that it was their cat and went on to explain that the cat had been missing for the past five years. Mom told them where the cat had been and they were all happy to know their cat had been in good hands.
What about you? Any stray cat stories? Ever have a cat disappear only to reappear months later?
Labels: animals, cats, Lisa, stray cats
posted by Theresa Ragan @ 3:19 AM
11 Comments:
I'm new to the cat world, though my siblings had cats when I was little. My housemates won't let me have a dog (it is their house), so I've adopted the feral kittens that showed up a few weeks ago. Sadly, two had badly injured legs. One recovered. One did not, but at least the one that did not had a safe place through the end. (They were too wild to let me close, even in their condition.) There are two left. There is something very relaxing about glancing out the window and seeing one or both of them sunning themselves in the backyard, from time to time.
Ahh, Judy, that's nice that the kittens have a place to rest. I guess they won't let you pet them or anything. I always used to be more of a dog person but I am finding cats more and more interesting...
Theresa,
The first cat our family adopted was a stray kitten, whom we named Pumpkin even though she wasn't orange. She was a tortoiseshell calico, and she found us at my husband's grandmother's house. Big Mama fed the feral cats that lived in her barn, but Pumpkin wanted to be with people. So we figured she wasn't one of the feral ones. We were sitting on the porch in the fall and little Pumpkin crawled up my husband's leg and fell asleep in his lap.
One of our neighbor's on the cul-de-sac behind ours own the cat we call Carrot. Carrot is a lot like your Lisa. He loves people and visits our yard a lot. We feed him and give him water.
One time my kids and I were eating a restaurant and a cat kept trying to get in through the patio door. When we finished NATURALLY we had to go pet the cat. That might have been the end of it, but I felt the cat's stomach and said to the kids, "This cat is going to have kittens." So we brought it home with the plan (already having 3 cats) that we would give away all the kittens and the mama cat. Our vet thought we were NUTS. But my kids and husband saw the kittens being born (I was at work) and we had a wonderful time watching four kittens grow.
We did find homes for all of them, too.
Lisa sounds like a real sweetie (although I'm sure Sadie wouldn't agree). And I loved the story about your mom's five-year cat :-).
We don't have any stray cat stories. Our dogs have things under control around here, and stray cats don't fit into their view of how the household should run ;-).
LOL, Terry! Yes, you have a dog household, don't you!
Mo, sounds like Pumpkin loved people too.
Diane, how great are you and your kids and your husband to take in the pregnant kitty and find them all homes.
I wish all kitties could have a good home to live in. :)
What great stories! I am so glad to hear that so many stray cats are finding good (and sometimes more than one) homes.
My Mom's best friend owns the local homestyle diner. My Mom works their as a waitress when she wants to, but what everyone really goes there for, besides the great food is the gossip. The owner's home is behind the restaurant and between the two lives a colony of feral cats. For a long time they bred like crazy until we got a couple of local vets involved in a big spay/neuter and release program. Before that, my Mom spotted a bob-tail kitten she wanted. Because a strange tom had moved in and was killing kittens she asked me to come and catch her bob-tail kitten. This involved crawling under houses and sheds while dozens of kittens darted to and fro and I got covered in dirt, spider webs and stuff I really don't want to think about at all. In the end I caught two kittens - neither bob-tailed. I told her she would have to pick one of these. I was NOT going back under the house! We ended up taking them both home. We discovered the white, blue eyed kitten was deaf. I lived with Mom at the time and two years later when I got ready to move into the home I live in now it was decided I would take the deaf cat, Pooh. However, they were so dependent on each other my Mom insisted I take them both. That is how I ended up with two of the fattest, most cowardly couch potatoes on the planet Tigger and Pooh and I wouldn't have it any other way!
Ahhh, love your story, Louisa! Tigger and Pooh. Wish we could see pics of all your animals. Good job getting all those cats neutered!
My first cat was a stray--an old girl--we had just returned from a trip with the family.... my brother and I had TONS of comic books and various books to sell. We set up a bookstand and proceeded to work on selling]. Along came this wee cat... skinny, gray and mottled. We fed her milk. My mom protested But at the end of the day, we took her in.
She was pregnant.
Very much so.
She had her kittens after three days of labor... the first next to my mom in her bed. We moved her and the three babies downstairs, but SPOT carried them straight up again.
At a science fair, for kids, I had a project about CATS and of course SPOT was on the board. The girl next to me had a project about dogs. Turns out, SPOT WAS THEIR CAT. They dumped her when they got the dog....
We got the better bargain.
Love your story, Christine. Sounds like you definitely got the better bargain! Love it!
Thank you for thhis
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