It seems that we have inherited a cat.
Before I launch into the story, it's probably a good idea to paint a little background picture for you all.
I'm 27 years old, and I haven't had a pet in the house since I left home at 17 - not so much as a goldfish. In other words, in all the time I've lived with Hubs, we have been pet-less. Which, you know, worked out fine, because pumping out three kids in the space of three years kind of made the house feel like a litter box anyway.
It also means that we've not yet exposed the children - now 8 ½, nearly-7 and 5 ½ - to the joy of pet ownership. It's not that we haven't wanted to - I've been trying to get Hubs to agree to a puppy for years - but practicality usually wins out in the end. And by that I mean, we own a regular, standard family car. No van, no SUV, no stationwagon. Just a normal, 5-seater car. Sometime - oh, I don't know - about 5 years back, we officially reached capacity. And anyone with even a teeny dog knows, they kind of need their own spot in the car. This all means that we can't load the kids and the dog up in the car and drive down to the beach, or the park, and act like, you know, dog owner families, because we just can't fit everyone in.
(And just to point out, if you haven't figured it out already, I'm a total dog person. Specifically Beagles. Hubs' vote is for a Lab or a Golden Retriever - the quintessential family dog really - he says walking a Lab instead of a Beagle will make him look like more of a man. As opposed to, say, a 'girlie-man')
So we were stuck with being pet-less for the forseeable future. And apart from the Mama Bear in me taking over every time I pass a pet store (which I, of course, have to go inside, specifically to check if they have any Beagles) and see the pups' little eyes all 'Puss-in-Boots'-ing at me, we're okay with that. A second car, even an upgrade to a station wagon, will cost us thousands out of pocket. A bit extreme for a family pet, I think you'll agree.
Then one day, I'm gearing up to go for my daily walk, open the front door, and there on the doorstep is this cat.
We get the occasional cat stalking the birds in our backyard. One in particular, we think lives next door. They're usually skittish and run off quickly whenever we open the door. But this cat - black no less, similar to the photo above - was just kind of there. Curled up on our welcome mat, meow-ing pitifully. From the way the poor thing was 'crying', we figured it was lost and was hungry. Having no pets, we of course didn't have any pet food, but we poured a little dish of milk and put out some ham. The cat darn near pounced into the bowl, it was that hungry. While most cats we see about the yard are antisocial, this one is obviously extremely tame and quite leech-like, because in the three or so days since, he (or she?) has pretty much set up shop on our front doorstep.
At first we thought it was one of those freaky 'cat got lost and still thinks it lives here' stories, but after two years in this house, it would have been a bit extreme. Still, we did ask the previous owners (they live locally) and it wasn't theirs.
The thing is, I'm not really a cat person. Nor am I particularly suspicious but I did realise today it arrived on the anniversary of Mum's death (30th) and hasn't budged since. It sits out there and cries - cries people! - and this morning I got an attack of the guilts and gave it another dish of milk. We alternate between wanting to feed the poor mite and avoiding all contact less the creature begins to think it belongs to us. We're not ready for a pet yet, and though a cat would eliminate a lot of the ' no room in the car' issues, a dog (eventually) is what we've always aimed for. We've never had a cat want to hang around the house so much.
The kids, of course, think its the best thing since sliced bread. Snowball III (in reference to the Simpsons, in case you missed that, LOL) is usually there at the door when we wake up, and when we go to bed, scratching at the screen. We've allowed the kids to pet it, but we think we're going to have to put a halt to that too - the more it gets used to it, the bigger the spanner in the 'no cats' plan.
The kids and I are going to do a letterbox drop in the next few days if he hasn't wandered home by then. Hubs also thinks ringing the local council to see if anyone has reported a missing cat might be in order. It sounds cruel, but the hungrier he gets, the more likely he'll be to move on.
Either that, or he'll cry louder.
I really hope he doesn't cry louder, LOL.
Cheers,
Lizzie
Before I launch into the story, it's probably a good idea to paint a little background picture for you all.
I'm 27 years old, and I haven't had a pet in the house since I left home at 17 - not so much as a goldfish. In other words, in all the time I've lived with Hubs, we have been pet-less. Which, you know, worked out fine, because pumping out three kids in the space of three years kind of made the house feel like a litter box anyway.
It also means that we've not yet exposed the children - now 8 ½, nearly-7 and 5 ½ - to the joy of pet ownership. It's not that we haven't wanted to - I've been trying to get Hubs to agree to a puppy for years - but practicality usually wins out in the end. And by that I mean, we own a regular, standard family car. No van, no SUV, no stationwagon. Just a normal, 5-seater car. Sometime - oh, I don't know - about 5 years back, we officially reached capacity. And anyone with even a teeny dog knows, they kind of need their own spot in the car. This all means that we can't load the kids and the dog up in the car and drive down to the beach, or the park, and act like, you know, dog owner families, because we just can't fit everyone in.
(And just to point out, if you haven't figured it out already, I'm a total dog person. Specifically Beagles. Hubs' vote is for a Lab or a Golden Retriever - the quintessential family dog really - he says walking a Lab instead of a Beagle will make him look like more of a man. As opposed to, say, a 'girlie-man')
So we were stuck with being pet-less for the forseeable future. And apart from the Mama Bear in me taking over every time I pass a pet store (which I, of course, have to go inside, specifically to check if they have any Beagles) and see the pups' little eyes all 'Puss-in-Boots'-ing at me, we're okay with that. A second car, even an upgrade to a station wagon, will cost us thousands out of pocket. A bit extreme for a family pet, I think you'll agree.
Then one day, I'm gearing up to go for my daily walk, open the front door, and there on the doorstep is this cat.
We get the occasional cat stalking the birds in our backyard. One in particular, we think lives next door. They're usually skittish and run off quickly whenever we open the door. But this cat - black no less, similar to the photo above - was just kind of there. Curled up on our welcome mat, meow-ing pitifully. From the way the poor thing was 'crying', we figured it was lost and was hungry. Having no pets, we of course didn't have any pet food, but we poured a little dish of milk and put out some ham. The cat darn near pounced into the bowl, it was that hungry. While most cats we see about the yard are antisocial, this one is obviously extremely tame and quite leech-like, because in the three or so days since, he (or she?) has pretty much set up shop on our front doorstep.
At first we thought it was one of those freaky 'cat got lost and still thinks it lives here' stories, but after two years in this house, it would have been a bit extreme. Still, we did ask the previous owners (they live locally) and it wasn't theirs.
The thing is, I'm not really a cat person. Nor am I particularly suspicious but I did realise today it arrived on the anniversary of Mum's death (30th) and hasn't budged since. It sits out there and cries - cries people! - and this morning I got an attack of the guilts and gave it another dish of milk. We alternate between wanting to feed the poor mite and avoiding all contact less the creature begins to think it belongs to us. We're not ready for a pet yet, and though a cat would eliminate a lot of the ' no room in the car' issues, a dog (eventually) is what we've always aimed for. We've never had a cat want to hang around the house so much.
The kids, of course, think its the best thing since sliced bread. Snowball III (in reference to the Simpsons, in case you missed that, LOL) is usually there at the door when we wake up, and when we go to bed, scratching at the screen. We've allowed the kids to pet it, but we think we're going to have to put a halt to that too - the more it gets used to it, the bigger the spanner in the 'no cats' plan.
The kids and I are going to do a letterbox drop in the next few days if he hasn't wandered home by then. Hubs also thinks ringing the local council to see if anyone has reported a missing cat might be in order. It sounds cruel, but the hungrier he gets, the more likely he'll be to move on.
Either that, or he'll cry louder.
I really hope he doesn't cry louder, LOL.
Cheers,
Lizzie
3 comments:
Reminds me of my Darcy! Poor little mite.
You'd probably be better off giving it clean, fresh water than milk though. Cows milk gives most cats the runs!
It is just LOVING the Whiskas we bought for it the other day. It was so hilarious...there's me, having never bought pet food in my life, looking up at the aisle-long display thinking really stupid things like 'um, how much does a cat eat?', 'dry vs wet?', 'both?', LOL.
How often do you feed Darcy? This morning I fet it one of those single-serve pouches (wet) plus about a cup of the Whiskas - it ate all the gloop and about 2/3 of the kibble. Other times we've just fed it one or the other it has cleaned the plate so we were worried we weren't feeding it enough. It came back later in the morning for the rest of the kibble. Is this (wet plus dry) thing an okay level? How often? I always figured pets need feeding only once a day but cat-freak friend says she keeps her kibble topped up the whole day and then gives a pouch/serve of the wet stuff in the evening. OBVIOUSLY these are matters of national importance here....LOL.
Good to see your post! For a while I thought Wendy was the only one who read here!
Cheers,
Lizzie
You probably don't need to know this now - but what you're feeding out sounds an excellent amount to me! I'd give Darcy about 1/2 cup of biscuits to munch on throughout the day, and then a serve of wet food at night.
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