For some reason inexplicable to me, animals like me. (Kids, too.) I bought a house from my best fiend and moved into it when I was laid off from my job. I was walking along the beach (the house is a short block from it) and there were two dogs, a black and white border collie and a scottie, frolicking around. They ran right up to me to say hello. Friendly dogs. (I think their owner should not let them run around like that though; there’s enough traffic on Birch Bay Drive that they might be run over.)
Nymsys’s husband, my friend and I went up to Vancouver. I drove him home afterwards and I met their dog and cat. They seemed to like me a lot.
So anyway, a strange cat has turned up here at the house. It’s kind of like a tortoise shell, but it has stripes. I have no idea where it came from; it just appeared at the door and started meowing. I don’t want a pet. Depending where I eventually get a job, I may have to rent an apartment closer to it. Or I may take off for a period, for whatever reason. I don’t want to encourage the cat by feeding it, but I do pet it occasionally. (Very affectionate animal, he.)
The house has a travel trailer built onto it that my friend uses for storage. After he moves out and I have a job, I’ll get rid of it and erect a garage. I saw the cat come out from under it the other day. It seems it might be living there.
So why did it choose to live there? Why does it like me so much? (He doesn’t seem to care much for my friend.) Sure, he likes me because I pet him; and I have given him a little cheese and some fried chicken bones and the residue of my General Tso’s Chicken. But “Cat” (as I call him) seems to have attached himself to me before I ever touched him.
He might not be your cat, but he seems to have claimed you as his Human. Congrats on being adopted; get him checked out by a vet (and fixed) and buy some cat food. Come on, it’s Christmas. Kitty needs a home and you obviously needed a pet.
Johnny L.A., under no circumstances give that cat a name! I believe Master Wang-Ka has so eloquently pointed out that you can feed the little bugger from time to time without the cat claiming ownership, but the instant you give it a name, Johnny has a cat!
If you do decide to adopt it, do so with the realization that it’s pretty well a “life” commitment. Do it with the understanding that you will take care of and provide for kitty (including yearly shots and nuetering) until it dies. If you find that you cannot care for it anymore, either find a good home for it with a friend, or take it to a shelter that focuses on finding homes for animals, not euthanizing strays.
It does sound to me like kitty has adopted you. Who can fathom the whimsy of a cat? It senses you have integrity and can be trusted, or that it can get along with you or all of the above. Either find it a good home, or take it in, just don’t leave it out like that, it’s “asking” for help.
Oh, no, don’t feed it fried chicken bones - cooked bones are very dangerous for cats as well as dogs. A little dry cat chow and a bowl of water (not milk) would be much better.
Of course it’s not your cat (nobody really owns a cat), but it sounds like it has chosen YOU to be its person.
Uh, good luck with that. My wife’s cat, adopted from an animal shelter, was abuse all her life until we got her. She’s sweet and usually quite calm, but was apparently completely wild when they found her in the streets. So yes, feral cats can become pets.
And, of course, like it or not, you have a cat. I mean, you could ignore it, but are you really that evil?
Johnny, my kitten Hanna was found, sick, skinny and dirty, when I was biking, and she is the cuddliest, freindliest cat ever. I figured whoever owned the momma cat didn’t care enough, so she became mine. I know that true ferals are different, but so many people have pets and either drop them off, or don’t care if they wander, these pets have litters and the kittens can be freindly…and so on. If you think it might be someone’s pet, you can look for the owners, place ads, flyers, call the shelter.
Some people just don’t care when a pet goes missing, so it is possible it was someone’s pet. Is it thin? How do the eyes and ears look?
Are you sure you don’t want a cat? It’s not too difficult to find an apartment that allows a cat, and they’re fairly self-sufficient for a few days at a time - I’ve left mine with three days worth of food, a clean littlerbox and plenty of fresh water for 2 1/2 days, and they’ve been fine. Just takes a little extra planning.
The cats in my parents’ neighborhood seem to adore me, too, for some reason. My neighbors’ cat (a female cat named Marvin) has gotten to the point where she’ll run to greet me every night when I get home from work - so she usually gets rewarded with treats or some dry food (but she started coming to visit me before the food). Her buddy on the other side shows up once in awhile - her owners treat her badly (allowed her to have four kittens who all roam the neighborhood now), and I adore her - if I could, I would take her with me when I move (they’ll never know…they don’t keep track of the kittens), but my fiance only wants two cats right now.
You have a cat now. Be happy. They’re great animals and they’re very particular in choosing who they love:).
I think a lot of “feral” cats that become good pets aren’t really feral. They’re abandoned pets that, through hunger and lack of human contact, become wild.
My mom and I have some experience with this- a neighborhood stray that wanted nothing to do with anyone human became quite friendly and affectionate after Mom started feeding her on a regular basis. Bonkers is now my downstairs neighbor’s cat.
On another occasion, mom used to work with the mentally retarded, and there was a cat in the complex her clients lived in, a kitten really, which had been put out by its owner when he got a dog. It was really scrawny. Mom used to feed it scraps of lunch meat, and it would wait for her to back away, then grab the meat and run. One day, she finally gave it a really good feed of canned cat food. Presto, friendly, affectionate pet. She brought him home, we had him neutered and otherwise cared for veterinarinally. Thunder evolved into a big, cuddly ball of fluff. He eventually became the pet of one of her clients.
BTW, I’m on the “you should keep the cat” side of the fence. Cats sometimes do decide they want to have a particular human as a pet, and I’ve long maintained that the truly proper way to acquire a cat is to have it take a fancy to you and move in with you. It shouldn’t be too hard to find an apartment that allows pets, and most cats can handle being left alone for a few days, provided they start with a really, really clean litterbox and plenty of food and water.
If it turns out that this cat is not one that can deal with being alone, you can always get him a cat. We got one for Conan.
Boscibo: The cat is not particularly thin, and its ears and eyes look okay.
I have a house, so I don’t need to worry about “being allowed” to have a pet. Unless, of course, I need to get a second home. No worries about water, either. There’s plenty of it just lying around up here. It even flows along the ground!
I do like cats, but I’m not sure I want one of my own. I’ll keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t get too thin, and I’ll pet it when I go out.
Thea Logicap: I used to have the exact same Location. (Not enough room for the coordinates.) And I agree about the motorcycles.
When we moved into our house three years ago, we couldn’t figure out why this orange cat kept coming around, meowing at the doors like he wanted inside. He wasn’t our cat, we already had two of them.
Not long afterward, one of the neighbors told us he belonged to the scum-of-the-earth people who skipped out on the rent and left him behind. So we let him into his house, fed him, acclimatized him to the other cats, took him to the vet and got him fixed and deloused, and he has quite happily adopted us.
How sure are you that this is a ‘he’? From what I remember, tortoise shell is a version of calico, and almost all calico cats are female. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a male tabby-tortie (tortoise shell where you can see the tabby underneath).
Anyway… Since you are beloved by animals and are a Jeep lover, you must be an okay guy. I hope you can either keep the cat, or find a good home for it. I’m sure you’ll do the right thing.
Cats carry color genes on the X chromosone - each color gene can carry a max of 2 colors. Ergo, ALL (except true mutants) tri-colors are female. Tortie and calico cats are female.
Come on, it’s Christmas. Kitty needs a home and you obviously needed a pet.
