Kitty's Owners Are Anxious

Tonight I noticed a note on the door of the house we thought might belong to the tripod cat. It was in cursive and the sky was almost fully dark so I had to go up on the walk to read more than two words. It said:

"If you have taken our cat Harry, please please please call #xxx-xxx-xxxx. We miss him very much!"

There was a bowl of fresh kibble and proper water in a dish on the ground near the porch.

I came home, washed the dead squirrel from the shivering, terrified Captain, took a shower to wash the shivering, terrified Captain off of me, and composed a note while my hair dried:

"Your cat is declawed, missing a leg, and has no ID collar or chip. We can't imagine why anyone would leave such a defenseless animal to wander around loose where he could easily be struck by a car or attacked by one of the stray dogs that roam the neighborhood.

The Humane Society will be holding the cat over the next few days, waiting for his owner to come and claim him. They can also give you some good advice for taking better care of your pets."

Originally I intended to start off with a dreadful tale of a dying cat to illustrate the danger it was actually in, but Seebs said scaring them would be mean, so I scrapped the idea.

I just got back from taping the note to their door. Their plea note was gone, which means somebody must have seen me reading it earlier, and that was a wee bit creepy. Going back to place my note, I nearly had a heart attack because a car went by and seemed to be slowing down. I felt like somebody was lurking in the bushes, spying on me.

And knowing this place, it's entirely fucking possible.

I think I'll be avoiding that block on our walks for the rest of our time in Saint Paul. The very last thing I need is neighbor drama with the chaos that's already swirling around.

Tomorrow, I have to cut down all the bushes that have grown up in our yard, in preparation for selling the house. I expect to get even more sunburned than I already am.

EDIT: Oh for fuck's sake. Does there really need to be wank about this?

Kitty Has Left The Party

Took kitty to the humane society today and signed him over to their care. The staff member who did the intake scanned him in case there was an ID chip, but no love.

They keep found pets 5 days, taking care of their ailments and vaccinations, then add them to the adoptable pet list. So, in a week or so we can check the website and see if kitty (now dubbed 'Noodles') is there.

The staff member confirmed my suspicion that cats missing limbs are generally in high demand for adoption due to Florence Nightengale Syndrome. Two seconds of petting this sunny little guy and listening to his bubblepurr and he'll be out of that shelter so fast he leaves behind a little dotted outline of himself in the cage.

It also helps that our local HS has an adoption rate significantly higher than the national average, and that they only euthanize sick or disturbed animals.

Oh, and we discovered he was declawed this morning, and found numerous hairless patches on his face and body which turned out to be huge scars. He looks like he was indeed involved in some kind of animal attack. Something took a chunk out of the flesh less than a centimeter under one eye.

How about that shit? A declawed, three-legged cat with no collar let out to wander these fucked up streets. It could have been worse, I guess--they could have duct-taped him to the bus lane with a traffic sign that says "BUMP AHEAD."

Found A Kitty!

Rah and I walked the dog to the store and back today. On the way home, we came across a very pretty young cream-and-white cat sitting in somebody's yard, meowing and meowing at us. At first he hissed at the dog, but when the Captain merely whined and shuffled his feet with longing, the kitty decided he wasn't in danger, and switched over to affectionate mode.

Rah and I stopped to check him out because something seemed off about the way he was just sitting there. When the kitty stood up and hobbled over to be petted and adored, we noticed the problem right away. The little dude was missing a hind leg and had a lot of trouble moving around.

This yard is located on a very busy industrial street with active ambulance and bus traffic. Animals get struck and killed there all the time. On top of that, Mystery Kitty didn't have a collar, and there are a lot of strays in the area who live sad and short lives. I didn't want to just leave the nice little tripod cat all alone to be hit by a car or attacked by one of the various loose neighborhood dogs.

I was also fascinated, because THREE LEGGED KITTY!

So while Rah scratched the kitty's ears and accepted copious overtures of purring affection, I went up to the house to ask if he belonged to the owners.

On the porch was a little plastic cup of water, and the cut-down base of a 1-gallon milk carton. The carton was full of kibble, enough for at least ten cats to eat their fill, but it had turned to mush from recent rain and was completely covered in black flies. It was gross.

I knocked on the door, but nobody answered. They weren't home.

We stole the kitty.






It's past office hours for all the local animal control/humane society offices, but I reported him as found in case his owners ever bother looking for him. We can either call for a pickup tomorrow morning, or keep him here with his information on file.

To guard against possible feline leukemia, we've put him in Rain's old room with the door shut and all the amenities a kitty needs for a sleep-over. He seems quite happy about it all.

No matter what happens next, the sweet little fellow will be taken care of. He seems well-fed and healthy, but starved for affection. His front legs are very muscular from compensating for the missing hind leg, which is part of why he looked off when he was sitting in the yard.

I'll keep you all posted on the future of Mystery Kitty.