The Street Cat Thing Never Ends
On Monday I walked past a parked car with two pairs of dirty kitty cat paws sticking out from under it. There was a cat lying under the car, it seemed to be in one piece, but it didn’t react to me when I talked to it.
Most of the time when I talk to a street cat it will either bolt and run quickly away or start meowing at me, begging for food. But this cat did not react to me at all. And that worried me.
So, fool that I am, I decided I was going to catch the cat. First, I casually mentioned to my husband (over the phone) that there was “this cat you see”. And when he gave me that knowing here-we-go-again “uh-huh” (as opposed to the “no more cats in the house” lecture) it strengthened my resolve to see what was what with this animal.
I dumped my purse and cell phone in the car and went back to where the cat was lying. I reached down and grabbed her and she tried to run, but she was too slow and weak and I was able to grab her easily. She spent a moment trying to convince me that she had claws and was actually ferocious, but it was just a ploy. She was weak and not very committed to fighting me off.
Once I held her I could see that she was absolutely filthy. In fact she was the DIRTIEST street cat I’ve ever picked up, and that’s saying a lot! So I decided that a bath was in her direct future.
I manhandled her into my car where she immediately start running in circles around the entire interior. During the drive she jumped from my left shoulder to the dashboard, ran across the dashboard and then to the back seat and back to my left shoulder AT LEAST 8 TIMES. Clearly this was a cat that had never been in a car before.
The good news is that this cat is basically healthy. She’s been malnourished for a while, and part of one of her ears is no longer there, and her tail has been broken, and she’s already had a litter of kittens even though she’s barely a year old, but besides all of that, she’s fine!
But the best thing about this cat? Once we got her home and fed and cleaned and pampered she became the sweetest and most loving cat I’ve even seen. She’s more affectionate than any of my other 9 cats have ever been! Most of my cats have been super-affectionate as kittens but by the time they reach a year they become uppity, picky, self-centered and hard-to-please. But not this new kitty, she’s managed to grow up with her heart wide open! She’s going to make someone a very nice companion.
We’ve just gotten her spayed. So she needs a couple of weeks with us before we can put her up for adoption, but soon I will be actively looking for a home for this most affectionate of all kitties!
And then, when I find her a home, I will start missing her! What a total love!
