A couple of weeks ago, I was adopted by a cat, now, apparently, every other cat in the neighborhood is thinking about moving in. The other night, I stepped outside to get something, and spotted a cat curled up on the porch swing. She looked up at me and meowed rather plaintively. I reached to pet her, she assented until I got to her hip, then she growled and hissed at me. Figuring that she was hurt, and had curled up on the swing to recoup, I brought her some food and water, planning on taking her to the vet the next day. Lo and behold, she’s gone the next morning! Hmm, says I, I think I’ve been suckered.
Every day since then, at about the same time, I’ve come out and found her curled up on the swing, happily munching away at the food I’d put out. Tonight, I come out, and there’s another cat out there as well! The first cat (whom I’ve dubbed “Watcher”), is curled up on the swing, growling softly at this new comer, who’s pretty scrawny. So I go in, and fix a bowl of food for the new comer. He/she skitters away from me, but I’m able to coax him/her back to the food bowl, once I set it down.
My own cat doesn’t quite know what to make of all of this, and she stares out the window at the others for a while, then loses interest, finds me, and if I don’t smell too much like the other cats, curls up on my lap and begins licking my nose.
Well, setting food out is a guaranteed method of attracting cats. To use your analogy, it’s like dropping a magnet in a container of iron shavings although it’s the food that’s the magnet, not you.
Hope you like them… you’re stuck with them indefinitely.
I don’t know about that. Both of them ate the food and then wandered off. “Watcher” will probably be back tomorrow, but I don’t know about the other one.
I started out with one cat, then went up to two… moved into a crappy neighborhood, started putting out food for all the pathetic strays that were lingering about… wound up with 7 cats by the time I moved. I’m down to 4 now but my career as a crazy cat lady began just as yours did…
If you can get near enough to them, you might try putting a (somewhat) loose piece of sewing elastic around their necks with a note, “Pet lover seeks owner of this cat - please call xxx-xxxx.” Just to see if someone owns them.
Do not use string - anything around their necks must be elastic so they can escape if it gets caught on anything.
My start as cat magnet was when I moved to the woods. Kitties would tear up the trash, so I put out a bowl of food on trash night to keep the bags intact. I can only imagine the kitties giving one another ^5 as they’d gotten me trained. The bowls got bigger as the cat crowd grew, and then they would fight over the bowl and knock it off the porch. After a half-dozen bowls of wasted food, I ran a stainless screw through the huge bowl into the back porch. Anywhere from 3 to 6 hang around at any given moment, awaiting tick-picking, food, love, or a combination. You’re obviously a cool person Tuckerfan.
Hell, I’m allergic to the damn things, and I’m a magnet. They know. Those evil beady little eyes hone in on me, and the next thing I know they’ll be rubbing up against my leg, leaving their nasty evil itchy-sneezy stuff all over me. I, ever the softy, allow it. They know. Ooooooh yeah., Those little buggers know. I think they’re working for the pharmaceutical companies allergy divisions.
Tuckerfan, if you are comfortable providing an address (via email), I’ll not only send you some elastic collars, I’ll make the notes for you and seal them so they don’t get wet.
If you don’t want to do that, you can buy a small pack of elastic at the grocery store for probably under $2.00. (You’d have to tack it together at the ends. You know, with thread.) You could even use largish rubber bands if you’re desperate; I’d just be a little worried that their fur would get wound up in them - that’s why I’d prefer sewing elastic. But a rubber band (largish) is probably fine too.
Me love kitties. I’m a sucker for a poor lost homeless cat. Can anyone tell?
Kitties like me, too, for some reason. We have three of them. In the last month, two of the neighborhood cats decided that they wanted to be my friend. They wait for us to pull up in the driveway, and as soon as we get out of the car, they are trotting across the street to come over and be petted. One of ours is an outdoor cat, and he defends his territory vigorously against other cats - except for these two visitors. He can be stretched out on the lawn when we get home, the other cats come over and he doesn’t even notice. I find that intriguing. I wonder what makes it OK for these two and not any other cats?
Thanks, missbunny, but I don’t think that’ll be necessary. I’m fairly certain that the one I call Watcher has a home, and the other one (an unneutered male, I’ve named “Clicker” since he responds when I click my tongue), is probably going to be “moving in” very shortly. Tonight he showed up at the door early (the kitties generally show up around 8:30 PM), and was positively starving. He wolfed down the food I set out for him, nearly drank the water bowl dry, and then decided he wanted to come in.
He patrolled the house (and completely unnerved my cat, Gabby), settled in for a bit, and then decided he wanted back out. Once outside, he wandered around the deck, leaving it for a bit, and then quickly returning. He continued to do this for about 10 minutes before he finally left. Looks to me like he’s trying to work up the courage to move in.
Aaargh. A few years ago, in the middle of winter, I thought there was very little room on my bed. Naturally I assumed my horrid cats (I and Mrs Cicero owned two) had moved in. So, I started kicking until they got off.
I counted them, leaping off the bed…One, two, three…
They had invited their mangy mate to come in and sleep on the electric blanket!
Keep this up and they are going to spread the word about you! “Psst, ‘sucker’ down at 23 Main - just look forlorn - pass it on.”
Poor kitty. I hope he’s not too old to be neutered. (Sometimes they don’t like to put them under for the surgery if they are past a certain age.) Good luck! He’ll repay you with kitty love.
Heh, well, I’m not sure I’ll have to worry about that. Clicker came back last night, wanted in, and then after patrolling the house, Gabby attacked him. I managed to get the two seperated fairly quickly, Clicker promptly wanted out, and I let him out. Much to my surprise, he was waiting for me when I got home tonight. I fed him, and let him in again, and again, Gabby went after him. Poor Clicker was scared out of his mind, I got the two seperated and let Clicker out. If he comes back, I’m going to get him a flea collar as I noticed some crawling on him when I was petting him. Poor kitty.
but my career as a crazy cat lady began just as yours did…
