Found Cat!

Or a cat found us, I should say.

I first saw him about 3 months ago when I was out ‘walking’ the Sisters in my wheelchair around the area (they actually ‘walk’ with me like dogs would, except they will not go far from OUR building, even with me - yet). He was behind some bushes of another building, under a window, and he stayed there, or so I thought. In hindsight, perhaps he followed me home!

He looks just like a cat that I took care of 15 years ago, Mister, could be his double, or his progeny (is this a reincarnation?).

This cat is healthy, seems ‘flee less’ and is wearing a newish blue color with NO ID tags on it. So someone, somewhere ‘owns’ him. (Therefore, I did NOT feed him!) He is a beautiful, probably middle-aged, gray striped, shorthaired, skittish, UNNEUTERED MALE.

That is where my problem starts. This guy has decided to befriend the Sisters, trying to ‘herd’ them as a male lion would his ‘pride’. After all, he has no way of knowing that they will NEVER come in season, that the playpens are gone! He just sees two attractive, unclaimed females.

The Sisters see a pain in the ass cat trying to dominate their play and newfound outside freedom, an interloper. And it has made them ‘nervous’, as if they weren’t high strung already!

It would also seem that this Found Cat desires to MOVE IN here with us! However, every time he tries to get in a door, one of the sisters whacks him across the nose, and he retreats, properly chastised

So I’ve had this male cat around here 24/7, mostly meowing, yowling, etc for a full month now. (Everyone in this building is going nuts! Me first!). Even at night, or when the Sisters are inside, which is most of the time, he sleeps right under MY windows, issuing an occasional vocal ‘invite’ to them.

I have asked everyone I know, the people at the office, and strangers also, if they knew where this cat belonged – no one did.

Next, I posted a massive multitude of ‘Found Cat’ signs. Yep, you guessed it, no one called.

As what I thought of as a ‘last resort’ I got a ‘cat cage’ from the Complex office. I was going to trap him, and have him taken to the shelter. For all I know, he could even be ‘chipped’. The shelter would neuter him (cool his jets!) and find him a real home.

Well THAT plan has not worked! No matter what kind of ‘treat’ I put in that trap (REAL tuna, Kitty Caviar, a cooked piece of fresh meat), he has not gone for it! One would think that he has had prior experience with these traps, except for the fact that he is not neutered, and is wearing that collar.

So finally, I have given up. This morning I put out a bowl of dry food for him, right at the patio door, and he ate it all, immediately. Then he climbed up into the patio chair, made himself comfy and took a little nap before the sisters went out to play. As I write this, he is following them around out there, but the noise level seems much less.

Perhaps he is not as interested in the sisters as he is in food and somewhere safe to sleep. Or even a home! Perhaps he figured that I took care of two, what would one more matter?

I can only assume that he is an ‘abandoned’ cat. A cat that someone has left here after moving out of the complex; sadly, it happens, and it causes great psychological damage to the animal. (Magic was one such cat – but at least he was neutered.)

Jeeze, I do not know. It is actually against my religion to ignore an animal’s plight, to not take care of an animal that comes to me for help. BUT, I am not a ‘collector’ and I barely have the funds to take care of these two! I certainly do not have the funds to have him neutered, and get him shots, nor a way to do that physically, even if I had the bucks. If I did, I would just take him to be neutered, get his shots, bring him back, let him go, and feed him on the patio. All I can do is ‘hope’ he will eventually tire of courting the Sisters, feed him twice a day, put a old blanket in the patio chair for him, and ‘punt’. I feel so guilty...