The cute little guy who was hanging around our door has been living in our bathroom for the last 24 hours. We got him in the house, and he hated it at first, but he's made huge progress. He went from being terrified of us to seeking out and loving our affection. We have a vet appointment for him tomorrow to make sure he's healthy and free of diseases and parasites, and we'll get him fixed soon too. We're still not sure if we want to keep him or just socialize him and then find another home for him. He's not going to be interacting directly with our cats until we know it is safe.
Meanwhile the shelter I built intended for him has another occupant, and two other interested parties. There have been some fights over the rights to sleep in it. So we built another one that isn't quite as good, and we're not sure if anyone is taking that one or not. One of those three cats, the dominant one, seems extremely friendly to humans, so we're definitely planning to take him to the shelter.
In regards to the shelter, we've learned that the two adult female cats we've taken there have both been adopted, and the baby kitten is still too young to give out, but he's likely to be adopted as well. So we're getting pretty confident that any friendly cat we take there will end up in a home. We're just reluctant to take in a cat that is scared of people, but the guy in the bathroom is teaching us that there's hope even for the fraidy cats.
I feel pretty good about helping these poor things. It is damn cold out there. As long as there are friendly ones on the stoop, we'll be trying to get them into a better situation.
3 comments:
BRAVO!
This is one of the reasons I'm glad I live on the 4th floor of an apartment building right now -- I'd be taking in every cat I came across if I had a yard for them to walk through. The other day I was walking around a shopping center and thought I heard a mew -- I stopped dead in my tracks and while I was looking around to find the source, worked out a quick plan for capture and rescue (1. hope the kitten is friendly enough to pick up. 2. walk into bed,bath,beyond and ask for a big paper bag with a cardboard bottom for support. 3. walk into target and buy a can of cat food with a pop-top lid. 4. bring home.), and then determined the "mew" was from a squeaky car door. In my mind, I had a new kitten, though. Good luck ridding your neighborhood of strays and finding homes for them!
You should contact your local newspaper and suggest they do a story on you -- it has good potential as a holiday feel-good story, and I bet you'd get lots of donations to help with rescue/vet fees and/or definite adopters from the shelter! If you feel silly contacting the paper yourself, I'd be happy to write up a press release on your behalf!
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