Let me begin this post by saying that despite all the steps that have been taken, none of this is set in stone. My affections are still on hold while waiting for this ‘cat’ thing to pan out.
So. Here’s the scoop.
There has been a cat that has been hanging around my school for weeks – maybe a couple of months. It’s been known to frolic on the playground around the kids once or twice, and seemed pretty friendly in a ‘Pet me! Pet me! Then I’ll try to bite you and think it’s funny’ kind of way. The second time she was around I thought, “If she’s still there after school, it’s meant to be and I’ll take her home”, but she wasn’t. A long time would go by between sightings, and one of the toddlers who lives across the street from school was telling us that it was his cat. His mom said that it wasn’t – it was just a stray that they felt sorry for so they fed it once in a while.
Last Thursday it spent the entire day curled up by the front steps of the school in a little garden area. Several people commented on how skinny she was, so I sneaked her some food. She was gone when I went home.
The next morning she was back, with two well-fed-looking tabbies giving her the eye. I shooed them off, gave her a little more food, and went about my day. That evening I stayed late to work on painting the playground fence and I kept hearing meowing. Around 8:30 I walked to my truck – going through the police parking lot – and there was the cat, sitting in a humane trap.
Hmmpf. There’s your sign, Lauren.
I took her home, fed her some food and waited for Lloyd. We agreed to get her checked out at the vet to see if she had some serious illnesses before deciding what to do. Meanwhile, we learned some things about her:
* She is ugly. Well, I knew that ahead of time. She’s a tortoiseshell, which is my least favorite kind of cat. Oh, well.
* She has bad bathroom manners. She can use a litter box, but she squats gracelessly and doesn’t know how to cover her business. That is a problem.
* She doesn’t mind having her head rubbed – unless she does, then she’ll growl and try to bite.
* She has a hurt back leg, which might be the reason that if you try to scritch her back, she gets mad.
* She sleeps aaaaalllllll the time.
I took her to the vet today and she checked out. No feline leukemia, she got some wormer medicine just in case, and he said having her eat wet food should help her become less dehydrated. If we decide to keep her, we should bring her back in a month for shots.
So, there’ that. We might need help thinking up names.
My picks:
Admiral Ackbar (Because she was found in a trap)
Batman (Because she’s so mysterious-looking)
Ugly Cat
P.C. (for playground cat, then if we get another we can call it Mac)
Crennig
Lloyd’s picks:
Dr. Quinn, medicine cat
Mugsy
Either Boris or Natasha – may involve getting another cat
Princess Buttercup
Your suggestions?
Oh, the other thing? I think this might be Brent and Sandra’s runaway cat from a few months ago. If so, maybe they want her back?