Intermission: Irresponsible Pet Owners

When I started this blog, my intent was to keep it completely focused on fibromyalgia. That is still my intention, but I must take a side trip to talk about something that really gets my ire up--irresponsible pet owners.

About three weeks ago, on a cold rainy day, my neighbor called. "Laurie are you missing a cat?"

I looked around the room, "No, both of mine are comfortably dry in their armchairs."

"Smart cats. I have a very friendly tiger cat here at the barn. Do you know who it might belong to?

"I really don't. I'm afraid someone dropped off another cat."

I heard nothing more from Clair. Then two weeks later, about 4 am, there was a violent thunderstorm. I heard a cat meowing very loudly. I thought, "Emma, you silly cat, come in out of the rain."

After all my pets have a dog door. Being the prima donna that she is, Emma continued to meow loudly. Finally, I got up, opened the door, and voiced my thought. No response.

Fine! I went back to bed. A few minutes later, I heard "Mrrow, mrrow, mrrow," repeated very insistently.

Grumpily, I got up again, "Emma! Get in here!"

A little tiger-striped cat crawled out from under the car. It ran towards my out-stretched hand and started rubbing its head furiously. I picked it up, tooked it in, gave it some food, and went back to bed. I dreamt about finding a cat.

When I awoke, I thought, "Did I really bring a cat in last night." I walked into the kitchen, the food dish was where I left it, but no cat. I started looking around, and found it curled up on an armchair in the living room. I went down and said, "Hello."

It turned out to be a he, and he was a purring machine. He just wanted to be stroked. I fed all my animals breakfast. Put a litterbox near him, introduced him to it, and started baking. "I can't afford another cat," I mused.

He stayed on that chair all day. He must have been exhausted. Clair came by to cut the grass, and I said "Come here. I think someone you know came to visit." I was right, it was the same cat. He had been leaving food at the barn for him.

So if someone was feeding him, and he had shelter, why did he travel across the road and through the woods to my house? I have two spayed females. Although they are spayed, they still seem to attract the males. Last summer I had two large feral-toms hanging around. Where are they now? Most likely dead. Cats don't last long in the wild. This year I have another feral-tom, and this obviously non-feral tom trying to woo my two females. They aren't interested.

Obviously, the one I took in the other night was dropped off, "Here you go boy, fields to roam, lots of mice, a nice barn to sleep in. Have a good life."

What are people thinking? Most of the feral cats I see in the summer, do not reappear the next summer. Why? They get hit by cars, eaten by coyotes, or perish from disease, starvation, or parasites. Nice long life - one year, maybe two or three, if they're lucky.

My other cat Sophie is also a drop-off. She appeared one fall day. She had no intention of living outdoors. She wanted a home badly. I looked for an owner, but she has been here now almost two years. At least she was spayed.

The problem with the new guy, who I am now calling Spike, is that he is not neutered. He is a young cat with raging hormones. He left the chair after a day and headed out. The dogs make him nervous, but he's lovesick, and especially trails after Emma, bleating his little heart out.

He comes sporadically. He knows he'll get fed and petted, but he doesn't trust Sophie and the dogs. I have quite a few scratches from trying to lure him in as my dogs dart out to see what's going on. I know he's lurking around, but I can't get him to come consistently. He needs to be neutered, before his hormones kill him. Neither Clair or I think he hunts. He doesn't leave remains around like my other cats do. He is not street savvy. Cars scare him to death. All-in-all, he's a nervous little thing who needs a home.

He's welcome here, although the cost of upkeep will be difficult for me. I don't know if I can get him to stay. It is difficult integrating new animals into a family. Emma still hisses at Sophie.

Be responsible. If you can't keep an animal, for whatever reason, find it a home or take it to a shelter. Even if there's a chance the animal might be euthanized, at least it won't end up as roadkill or food for coyotes.