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Christopher Kitten has not been adopted by us, much to Toby’s relief, and he hasn’t been hanging around in our yard half as much. I think the group effort at the neighbors to keep him fed and entertained is working–mostly.
Mr. Isbell did put out food for him one afternoon when he came crying to the door, and I’ll pat him when I see him out in the yard, but it’s nothing like the weekend he was abandoned by his awful owner. And that’s a relief.
So the neighbor kitten that’s getting left out all night was left out all day AND all night, all weekend. It discovered Toby’s veranda Saturday morning:
Saturday night he sat on top of the veranda (with Toby in the veranda), looking in as we watched a movie.
This is kind of an impossible situation: Toby does not immediately try to attack the kitten, but 1.) we don’t have room for two cats in the apartment and 2.) Toby can’t have a cat roommate that goes in and out while he remains an inside-only cat. Also, Christopher Kitten* is scaring away all the quail and quail chicks.
Some of my neighbors were outside last night and I geared up for a lecture about responsible pet ownership, but it turned out they were the housemates of the girl who “owns” the kitten, not the girl herself. The housemates said that they’d been watching out for Christopher Kitten, too, because owner-girl doesn’t let him in a lot because he’s “too frisky” (!) and sometimes forgets to feed him (!!). What a despicable woman.
So…what happens now? I guess I could be justified in calling CAWS and getting Christopher Kitten fostered, since he does seem to be neglected by his owner. It also sounded like the housemates were looking for a new place to rent and wanted to take Christopher with them, but I don’t know if I can count on them. Does any blog reader out there want a kitten?
*Yes, I named him. It’s a problem.
As I said yesterday, I feel as if summer is passing me by. That might be due to the fact that I’m not spending a lot of time on the patio in the evenings, and here’s why:
1. Mosquitoes. They are the devil. They are bad this year, after all that rain. I was outside for about half an hour last night and got three bites. Currently, I have three bites just on my FACE. Mosquito fail.
2. The neighbor’s kitten. This kitten is not the devil; it’s the cutest roly-poly tabby who purrs furiously when you pick it up. But the neighbor girl who “owns” it leaves it out at night, starting at about 6:00, and it’s either crying at their door, wanting to play with us, or crying at OUR door. Toby does not like this one bit, and neither do I: Who leaves their tiny kitten outside all night without a bed to sleep on*? At least it has food and water, but still–cat ownership FAIL.
*I am debating taking the final step towards totally becoming my mother (who always has sheltered strays) and getting that kitten a little cat house with a bed in it. I doubt the neighbor is going to let it sleep inside; we can’t steal it to live with us; and I don’t think we can say it’s a stray and call a rescue shelter. But I can at least make sure it has somewhere to sleep that’s not on a concrete patio or in the grass.