Wednesday, June 17

From the Archives: "Stray Cat(s)"

I am re-posting this because the cats are still around... but only one at a time, and they're both getting skinny, and honestly, I think I'm... worried. Read up and gimme your input.



Stray Cat(s)

My mother is the lady who composts and throws stale bread on the patio for the birds (squirrels).

A lonely cat started appearing in her backyard about the same time of day... and pretty soon a little bit of an attachment formed. In the morning when she'd be tossing stuff out the back door, the cat would already waiting.



Fast-forward. Like a lot.


Yeah, I wish we were talking about Brian Setzer hanging out on my mother's porch. It is many years later, and the now-fat cat is still coming around. I was sitting by the window in my mother's kitchen over the weekend, when I realized this big fat cat was sitting on the deck staring up at me, real still, like a statue. The same cat. Now so fat, it had grown into two cats.

Yes, one stray cat has become two stray cats, practically identical, not just in color, but identical in overweight, overfed-by-scraps size.

My parents -- who never let us have pets when we were were kids -- now gleefully "ooh" and "aaah" when they find their little grey friends waiting for stale pizza crusts and rock-hard bagels. That look of expectant feline joy that screams "Feed me, stupid homeowner!" seems to entrance lonely retired folk like my mom & dad.


There's no fixing this situation, is there?


Like, obviously, because they've never been pet-owners did my little Filipino parents realize that it would not be a good idea to start randomly feeding the neighborhood strays. They've unwittingly "adopted" these two cats, who clearly don't have a real home. Or maybe every night they go home to someone's house where they feed them a meager amount of no-frills brand vittles, and are so amazed at how such little nutrition could miraculously turn out such massive animals.


OK, so obviously, it's all too late now. But are there like any actual laws about feeding someone else's pets when they show up at your doorstep? Should my parents have looked for a collar, tag, ID, something?

Like, at this point, do they bother looking for an owner, or do we treat these twin fat cats with the same lack of attachment that we'd accord to a rabbit or a deer?


I'm not sure if the answer is nothing. To like, not do anything.

But seriously, this feeding-the-random-strays nonsense is out of control!


I mean, for godssakes... they feed the cats!!!!


. . .AND THEY DIDN'T EVEN FEED ME!!!!

5 comments:

  1. http://www.howtodothings.com/pets-and-animals/a4458-how-to-adopt-a-stray-cat.html

    that website may be helpful if your parents want to help the little guys...

    it hink looking for some sort of tag or collar would help too... good luck!

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  2. I think that a stray animal that you feed at your doorstep could be dangerous. You don't know where that cat has been! If decide you want to care for it you should care for it all the way by cleaning it and making a vet visit. That way you can protect yourself and the cat!

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  3. beeeespearsgrl866/17/2009 10:48 AM

    Well I think that you should maybe try and adopt it cause then you know it would be safe. It just sucks that its expensive to get shots and stuff cause I wouldnt trust taking a cat in without making sure it was sterile

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  4. Well gurl, i think u should leave some food out for it.....then take it to ur local humane society and they can nurse it back to health....and then maybe some nice rich, old lady can adopt it and find a friend <3 that would be a fairy tale ending.....:-)

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  5. Most shelters are full because it's kitten season. Checked your local humane society many offer clinics you can get low cost shots and get the cats spayed or neutered. It is important to get the cats fixed because you don't want anymore showing up. I feed feral cats in my backyard. I go the the Pennsylvania SPCA feral cat clinic and get them their necessary shots and sterilization. These cats could have belong to some and they either moved or no longer wanted them so they ended up on the street.

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