Denise and I were heading out last night to go to Rockville for another round of battle with CompUSA over her notebook. As we headed to the dumpster to drop off a load of trash, Denise saw a spotted tabby sniffing around the trash, looking for a meal. The cat was a friendly sort and came right up to us for a "sniff and greet".
Denise is something of an expert on cats (har! understatement), and she told me that the cat was likely a former domestic pet that had been abandoned. After looking at her for a few minutes and talking about it, we initially were going to leave her be, so we headed over to the bus stop to wait to go to Rockville. As we talked about it further, though, I started to become too upset about the stray (especially one so sociable), so we nixed the trip to CompUSA and decided instead to bring the cat into the apartment.
Denise gave her the once over. She determined that our new guest was a female, probably around 6-8 months, who had been a stray for some time, although she was definitely a domestic at some point a while ago, judging by her various behaviors. She also said the cat was generally in good health for the most part. We gave the cat water, milk, and some leftover spaghetti and chicken from the other night's dinner. Probably not the best meal in the world for a cat, but compared to what she's probably been eating for the past several months... (when we first saw her, she was rooting around in some old plastic bags looking for scraps and found what was, apparently, an old chicken leg, which she grabbed and ran off with).
The cat was rather skittish at first, and still is as I write this, though she's calming down. She seems to have taken quite a shine to me, less so to Denise -- which really surprised me, since Denise "feels" cats so much better than I do. Anyway. The cat wolfed down a hell of a lot of food -- not surprising, since she's on the thin side and probably hadn't had a decent meal in ages.
Denise and I talked about various options, including her possibly taking the cat back to Petaluma with her -- a notion that we discarded after some brief discussion. Not sure what I'm going to do yet -- I might try to keep her, or I may give her to the local SPCA. Have to mull it over.
Meanwhile, Denise and I need to make a trip to the Giant to pick up some supplies. We tried to make a makeshift litterbox for her last night, but it doesn't appear that she understood what it was for, so we're going to pick up a pan and some litter. Probably some other things, too.
I've decided to name the cat Marie. Photos to follow later.
--Ah. Last minute update. Denise just told me that Marie has figured out what our makeshift litterbox is for. *grin*
Looks like Denise is establishing "Moggy's Cat Farm East" :)
Watch out, or you'll have 20+ cats too :) I assume they allow pets in your apartment? Since you are starting a nice high paying job, you might want to think about one of those automatic scooping robotic litter boxes - that way you wouldn't have to contend with litter box odors competing with your other odors - bread, cologne, and other 'smelly stuff' :)
My mom never has to go anywhere to get a cat - she just hangs around outside, and they adopt her :)
I don't have as good luck with cats - the ones around here are terrorised by the local kids, and run like crazy if they are within 50 feet of someone they don't know. I really can't leave food out to attract them like my mom does, because it would attract racoons and bears too, and they are too heavy to sit on my lap while I am on the computer :)
Posted by: Matt at December 21, 2003 01:10 PMOur apartment complex allows pets, but you have to get permission from the landlord. I'll have to drop them a note tomorrow.
I'm not sure whether I'm going to keep Marie yet, so I don't want to invest a lot of money in cat stuff... I do recognize, though, that she may be here for a while even if I decide to adopt her out (since the SPCA might want me to foster her for a while), so I'm doing what I can to make her comfortable.
I don't think smells are going to be a problem much, since I've got her litter in the spare bedroom, and I'll be cleaning it regularly.
I have had cats come up to me and socialize on occasion, but for the most part, they avoid me, too. There is one black cat outside my apartment that I think is a stray, but I'm not sure... there have been a few occasions when Denise or I have been outside, and the cat has come up to say hello for a bit.
Posted by: Zathras at December 21, 2003 05:54 PMI'd like to say for certain people's peace of mind that I've never actually seen anyone here mis-treat a cat, and that I would not know standard feral behavior from how a cat would be scared if it were mis-treated.
My mother's cat has never been mis-treated to my knowledge, but it took over a year of persistent effort to be able to have him allow me to pet him - he is very mistrustful of men, but not of women for some reason.
Happy Holiday! <:o)} (Santa smiley?)
Posted by: Matt at December 24, 2003 07:56 PM