Anyone in the Austin area want a kitty?
Last Sunday night, I had just come back from putting some food outside for some of the local stray cats (and the ducks), when there came some absolutely pitiful (if loud) cries from outside the front door. Upon my opening the door and calling out the universal hail to all cat kind ("Here kitty kitty kitty!"), there came a frantic scrabbling of paws on fallen leaves, and around the corner dashed by far the thinnest cat I'd ever seen. She was a black and pale orange mottled tortie with wide bright green eyes, and my heart broke just to look at her.
While initially rather cringing and wary of humans, she obviously was desperate for some nurishment and attention. So I poured her out some food--she ate three generous helpings so fast I'm not sure she was even chewing the kibbles--and eventually coaxed her into accepting pettings and scritchings. She actually turned out to be quite the sweetheart, trotting behind the humans wherever they went, eagerly headbutting our hands and contorting herself in pleasure when we rubbed her ears.
We have rather regular cat friend visits around our place, and normally this is all they want from us. However, it seems this was the first time in a long while someone had been kind to the poor baby, and as my roommate knghtsky put it, she knew she had nowhere else to go, no other safe harbor. Unlike most strays who stop by, she didn't eventually become bored and leave on kitty adventures. After I put her out, she stayed outside our door apparently all night; every time I peeked outside after things had been quiet for a while, she was still waiting patiently to be let in again. As a matter of fact, she was still there on Monday morning when spottylogic came to pick me up for work.
I couldn't put her out again. It pained me sorely to leave her outside the first time. She was so obviously desperate and needy and begging for love. Even though I'd promised knghtsky that the 'second cat' slot in our apartment would remain reserved for his kitty (who is still living with knghtsky's former roommate), he encouraged me to let her stay while we got her medical problems taken care of and found her a home.
So now she's been bathed and fed and innoculated and medicated, and has the chance to lead a good cat life. There's just two major problems: 1) my own cat, Pearls, absolutely hates the newcomer, and the feeling appears to be mutual; and 2) every no-kill shelter we've been able to contact has said they are not taking any more cats at this time, as they're all full up. There's no way I could bring the poor thing to a shelter that euthanizes unadopted pets; it would be horribly cruel to do that to her after showing her humans can be gentle and caring, and I could never live with myself.
I'm still hoping that we can find a good home for the kitty (name undecided; we initially were thinking of calling her Entropy, but due to her amusingly peculiar grunt/groan/growl vocalizations we've taken to calling her Grundy). But for now, she's going to be staying with us. Which means locking up one or both cats in separate rooms--not an easy task in a relatively small two-bedroom place. Especially considering my own room is still packed with junk. I'm an awful housekeeper. *sigh*
So... anyone out there interested in a new pet?
While initially rather cringing and wary of humans, she obviously was desperate for some nurishment and attention. So I poured her out some food--she ate three generous helpings so fast I'm not sure she was even chewing the kibbles--and eventually coaxed her into accepting pettings and scritchings. She actually turned out to be quite the sweetheart, trotting behind the humans wherever they went, eagerly headbutting our hands and contorting herself in pleasure when we rubbed her ears.
We have rather regular cat friend visits around our place, and normally this is all they want from us. However, it seems this was the first time in a long while someone had been kind to the poor baby, and as my roommate knghtsky put it, she knew she had nowhere else to go, no other safe harbor. Unlike most strays who stop by, she didn't eventually become bored and leave on kitty adventures. After I put her out, she stayed outside our door apparently all night; every time I peeked outside after things had been quiet for a while, she was still waiting patiently to be let in again. As a matter of fact, she was still there on Monday morning when spottylogic came to pick me up for work.
I couldn't put her out again. It pained me sorely to leave her outside the first time. She was so obviously desperate and needy and begging for love. Even though I'd promised knghtsky that the 'second cat' slot in our apartment would remain reserved for his kitty (who is still living with knghtsky's former roommate), he encouraged me to let her stay while we got her medical problems taken care of and found her a home.
So now she's been bathed and fed and innoculated and medicated, and has the chance to lead a good cat life. There's just two major problems: 1) my own cat, Pearls, absolutely hates the newcomer, and the feeling appears to be mutual; and 2) every no-kill shelter we've been able to contact has said they are not taking any more cats at this time, as they're all full up. There's no way I could bring the poor thing to a shelter that euthanizes unadopted pets; it would be horribly cruel to do that to her after showing her humans can be gentle and caring, and I could never live with myself.
I'm still hoping that we can find a good home for the kitty (name undecided; we initially were thinking of calling her Entropy, but due to her amusingly peculiar grunt/groan/growl vocalizations we've taken to calling her Grundy). But for now, she's going to be staying with us. Which means locking up one or both cats in separate rooms--not an easy task in a relatively small two-bedroom place. Especially considering my own room is still packed with junk. I'm an awful housekeeper. *sigh*
So... anyone out there interested in a new pet?