[prmenrs]

You'd think I'd learn.

There's been a young black cat hanging around our cul-de-sac, looking very thin. He had a collar for a while, then didn't. We fed him a few times, but I can't leave food out for him, or we have skunks eating it.

Thursday afternoon, my son yells, Mom, I got him--he's in the bathroom!. So, out comes the cat carrier and off we go to the vet. I wasn't even sure if it was a boy or a girl. Turned it over to the vet's: fix it, check for worms and viruses, shoot it, including rabies. I named it "Wild Willy". Didn't know how old he was, or if he was handle-able or feral.

Friday, I called. It's a boy, 1 1/2 to 2 1/2, negative for viruses, positive for worms. It's been neutered and "shot" and wormed. Picked him up today. >$200. Oh, and he didn't give them any trouble, so not feral.

My son is delighted because "Wild Willy" + our last name = WWE [World Wrestling Entertainment].

I do NOT plan on keeping WWE as an indoor cat--Jenna's still mad about Pepper usurping her palace. I can't stand the drama. But, I've done my good deed for a while.

Oh, well, it's only money.

[dianah]

Awwww, join the club, Prme.

I swear cats have left "signs" on our walls outside, secret codes that only cats can read, that say "A sucker for cats lives here = free food and lodging for life."

You have a good heart. The cats will learn to deal with WWE (great name, BTW!).

[prmenrs]

I actually turned down a cute little kitten last year from a neighbor. She was so pretty--I told him to take her to the shelter. (the main one is on the same campus as the Humane Society, and it's a no kill) Did he do it?? Heck, no.

~ 3 months ago, another neighbor came and said she had a cat w/kittens in her patio. SAME CAT!!!

I gave a carrier, and a map to the Humane Society, and some food, told her to give the mama some water until her son could take the whole group over to the shelter. Unbelieveably, they did it!!

[weetziebat]

Ahhh.........you're such a sweetie. How can you turn away a kitty? And I agree with Dianah - there is an underground network letting strays know just which door to sit and meow at. They find my house too.

And, see, now you're turning your neighbors into cat folks too. You'll have someone to share the strays with.

[suzy253]

Originally Posted by weetziebat

Ahhh.........you're such a sweetie. How can you turn away a kitty? And I agree with Dianah - there is an underground network letting strays know just which door to sit and meow at. They find my house too.

That's so true. I took in a huge orange tom (polydactyl) many years ago and he lived a life of luxury until he became ill with kidney disease and we had to have him put down. I felt terrible and miss him still but I keep reminding myself that we gave him a very good life.

[CHATSDALE]

yur a good people not a sucker

[prmenrs]

I know it's a good thing. Why do I feel like such a do-do head?

[Gompers]

prmenrs, you're just like my mom. She is like the patron saint of cats in our neighborhood. The three cats (indoor/outdoor) that my mom has right now, as well as the four or five cats before them, have all shown up on our doorstep. Let me tell you some stories about a SUCKERED cat lover...

The latest cat had the most guts...

We were watching TV one October evening (I'll never forget it - we were watching the Cubs in the play-offs) and heard a cat yeowling outside. We go check it out and see our big fat neutered tom, Tucker, peering into the bushes at another cat who is obviously in heat. We pick him up and take him inside. As we open the door, this female sprints past us, right into the house! She is a cute tabby, maybe a year or two old. She explores the entire first floor while we watch. Then, she has the nerve to go into the living room, jump up on the couch, settle in, and start bathing herself! We just looked at her, like, "Who the he** do you think you are?!?! You don't live here!!!" We tossed her out the front door, and for the next few days, it was like Cujo the cat was living outside our house. She'd climb the window screens and peer inside the house. When a door would open, she'd be right there stalking it to get inside. Now, she looked just like another cat we had at the time, so my dad and grandma kept accidentally letting this new one inside, so that didn't help. Then they'd look down and see TWO of these mirror-image cats and think, "Ooooops..."

Finally we let her stay. She was determined to live with us. We got her fixed a month later and that was that. Oooooh, except for one thing - she somehow convinced our Tucker (who, as I mentioned, is neutered) to...um...you know. It was the funniest thing we ever saw! They were in the dining room, and I thought they were fighting. Then I noticed what they were attempting and called my mom in the room. We should have broken them up, but it was just too funny to watch. The thing was, our stupid Tucker had no CLUE what to do. First he had her on her back, facing him, trying to decide where to put his paws. Then she managed to get into...uh...regular position with him. He continued to look absolutely cluelesss and had this look on his face like, seriously, "Okay, girlie cat, I'm trying to humor you here, but seeing as I have no sex drive and thus no instincts, you're gonna have to bear with me..." Finally, in tears from laughter, we broke them up. Perverted, maybe, but remember they never actually mated. He just looked so STUPID!!!

Now, this is someone who was suckered: my mom.

A few years back, we had three (different) indoor/outdoor cats. She was also feeding three other strays on the back deck on a regular basis. Cats always knew were to come to get food in our neighborhood. My mom says they used to hang out and look in kitchen's French doors, casing the place. We always had three cats, and whenever one was getting older and sick, there'd always be a stray that was suddenly very sweet to my mom, like it was thinking, "Hmmmm...that gray one in there looks pretty bad, maybe it'll die soon and I'll have my chance to get in there..."

So anyways, that winter got VERY cold. My mother was so worried about the strays that she took and old couch and made a cat condo. She used boxes and pillows to make three separate spaces, one for each cat. In each space was a comfy blanket and cat toys. She covered the whole couch with a plastic tarp to keep the wind out and just left the front "doors" open for the cats. Well, one night it was below zero. My mother decides to get some old heating pads and warm up the condo for the cats.

About five AM a neighbor woke up and noticed our back deck was on fire. He called 911, and by the time the cops and firemen get to our house, the fire had spread INTO the house, via the walls, and was contained inside the walls so no smoke or heat was in the house and no alarm had sounded. When my mom opened the front door when she heard the cops pounding away, the air pressure changed and the house filled with smoke. Everybody, including our cats and the strays outside, was safe and sound.

The house, on the other hand, was in bad shape. About a third of it was damaged (mainly in the walls and attic spaces) and we had to move out for four months while it was renovated. This was a week before Christmas. We were in a hotel, then a rental house. Do you know that the whole time they were renovating, my mother went home every single day to feed those strays?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Sucker.

[VivaLasViejas]

I know just what you mean, prmenrs!! Cats know EXACTLY who the pushovers are in any given neighborhood, and that's where they go........Many years ago, when my daughters were babies, we had no telephone, so I had to go outside to the phone booth in front of our apartment complex (read: slum) to make calls. Wouldn't you know, every feral cat in the neighborhood would show up and hang out in or near that phone booth while I was out there? There'd be eight or ten of 'em, brushing against my legs or meowing at me...........no one else in the area could touch them, and they'd scatter to the four winds as soon as I went back to my apartment. I didn't even FEED these animals, they just sought me out when I went to the phone. Weird sort of cat radar, I guess.

Now, of course, we have five or six little wild cats roaming our property and the surrounding neighborhood, and guess whose windowsill they like to jump on and look into the house? We don't feed these cats either........well, at least I didn't THINK we were feeding them, until one morning when I caught my 15-year-old son sneaking a bowl of catfood out the back door and setting it under a tree. Turns out he'd been doing this for months.......he's a sucker, too.

[SmilingBluEyes]

You have a heart bigger than Texas, prmenrs! I admire that. That kitty is better off for it,too.