This morning at the bus stop a little cat ran out of the drainage sewer. Amy said he lives down there, with various other cats. First thing he did was run into the street in front of a car. Fortunately the car was going slow and didn’t hit him. Then the school bus came, and he started to run under <i>that</i>. I grabbed him just as he ran in front of the front tire (the bus was stopped)… so what could I do? I couldn’t call myself an animal lover and just let him go back to that life. So I brought him home.
He looks to be about 6 months old, he’s absolutely gorgeous and soft as a rabbit. He let me hold him for about 10 minutes without much complaining, but is pretty scared of the other cats and terrified of Sparky. We can’t keep him… we have 4 cats already. However I insisted that we keep him until we could find a home for him. Being a wild kitten, I think most shelters would probably just put him down, and even no-kill shelters might have a hard time adopting him out. Plus he isn’t at that little kitten age, he’s bigger.
So if you live in the DC area and have room in your heart for a kitty, let me know. I will only give him to a family who promises to keep him as an indoor cat.
I’m calling him Marble, and here is what he looks like:
I should be able to post him on the Adoptables page for the rescue for which I volunteer (http://www.4asap.org/Adoptables.html) with his story as well as posting his picture at the PetSmart Adoption Center. I’ll talk to the organization founder/operator about him…we can probably help screen for adoptive parents there too. I’ll let you know.
He’s gorgeous! I wish I could take him, but I’m too far away, and hubby and 3 cats would all object to another adoption. (The dog wouldn’t mind, though…)
A woman came to the door just now asking if we’d found her cat. She has two cats and lets them out all the time (bad move, and illegal besides) which is why they were living part of the time in the sewer with the wild cats. She said “well he never comes down this far”… so I told her that Amy’s seen him down in the sewers quite often. And when I told her that he’d run in front of a car, then under the school bus, she was horrified. I told her that she really shouldn’t be letting her cats out around here (hey, it might be rude to tell someone how to take care of their pet, but a life was at stake here) and she said she isn’t letting them out anymore. Hooray! So he’s back with his family AND they aren’t going to be letting him outside anymore.
Thanks to weirddave for offering to take him if we didn’t find him a home–I’m sure you’d have been a great daddy for him.
Me, I’m just glad he’s safe, and in the meantime we had a nice houseguest.
Well, dern it all, I been working on getting Sulu and Sisko ready for their new pal Archer all week. They are gonna be bummed.
Glad you got him home, Opal.
The Petsmart (or is it Petco?) at 7 Corners has cats that you can adopt, and they show them on weekends.
Also, in the Sunday paper, there’s a classified ad about cats for adoption, by a very nice lady, who rescues 'em by the dozen. She rents a place just for the cats, around 15th and Corcoran, I think. I once got a great cat from her.
Don’t even bother with the Arlington Animal Shelter. The demand is greater than the supply there, thank God. But other shelters in the area aren’t as lucky. Loudon has to put down lots of cats, so try there.
Don’t forget the cat rescue I volunteer for here in Alexandria! Feel free to direct any “great demand” from Arlington a few miles south to our PetSmart…