badger
June 19th, 2008, 08:24 AM
So last night there was a cat across the street howling non-stop so I went over to check and she was sitting on the stairs to an apartment crying and crying. When she finally came close, I realized it was a female and thought maybe she was in heat (although didn't seem to have any of the typical 'postures').
Later, a young girl who lives on my alley knocked on my door and said they had lost their kitten, didn't know when or how he had escaped and she wanted me to be on the lookout. So we went out with a flashlight and checked in the most obvious places. I suspect he had been gone for hours. I told her to search later when there was less noise and to make some posters. But given her family situation - the kids get very little attention from their parents and seem to have attached themselves to my neighbours downstairs, who are very involved with their own children - I'm sure the kitten is gone forever.
Then another neighbour in the building wants to borrow some baking soda to add to one of those 'disposable' litter boxes, which is so yucky (the litter is non-clumping) that his kitten has started to use the floor. I finally go down with a sack of litter, dump the old litter and re-fill it, tell him what brand to buy ($10) and how it is much less expensive in the long run. Since he had had a few beers (to compensate for his dreary, largely unfixable life), I got nowhere. Sooner or later, the kitten will probably be looking for another home, since he bought it for his daughter, who doesn't even live there, and he largely ignores it, although he is not unkind.
So around 5 this morning, I wake up to the wailer (who is not in heat, just lost) and go out to find her still in the same general area, along with a brown tabby I have been feeding and a big black kitten who turned up recently. So I brought out some food and everyone got a bite and a cuddle. Three beautiful, healthy cats, not a chewed ear in the bunch (the tabby is neutered and declawed) and I have no space and no prospect of space.
Stray kids, stray cats, I don't know which makes me angrier.
Later, a young girl who lives on my alley knocked on my door and said they had lost their kitten, didn't know when or how he had escaped and she wanted me to be on the lookout. So we went out with a flashlight and checked in the most obvious places. I suspect he had been gone for hours. I told her to search later when there was less noise and to make some posters. But given her family situation - the kids get very little attention from their parents and seem to have attached themselves to my neighbours downstairs, who are very involved with their own children - I'm sure the kitten is gone forever.
Then another neighbour in the building wants to borrow some baking soda to add to one of those 'disposable' litter boxes, which is so yucky (the litter is non-clumping) that his kitten has started to use the floor. I finally go down with a sack of litter, dump the old litter and re-fill it, tell him what brand to buy ($10) and how it is much less expensive in the long run. Since he had had a few beers (to compensate for his dreary, largely unfixable life), I got nowhere. Sooner or later, the kitten will probably be looking for another home, since he bought it for his daughter, who doesn't even live there, and he largely ignores it, although he is not unkind.
So around 5 this morning, I wake up to the wailer (who is not in heat, just lost) and go out to find her still in the same general area, along with a brown tabby I have been feeding and a big black kitten who turned up recently. So I brought out some food and everyone got a bite and a cuddle. Three beautiful, healthy cats, not a chewed ear in the bunch (the tabby is neutered and declawed) and I have no space and no prospect of space.
Stray kids, stray cats, I don't know which makes me angrier.