Cat-Rescuer

Tuesday night Mike and Paige were shovelling the snow and as I let the dog out to get in their way, I hear this pathetic "meow" about 100 times in a row. I follow the sound out to underneath my neighbor's truck and see this poor kitty outside freezing and scared out of her mind. I pull her out and feel that she is skin and bones. You can literally see her spine and she has absolutely nothing on her. I bring her in the house, wrap her up and she keeps meowing. I opened up a can of tuna and she DEVOURED it. So I'm like "now what?" Mike and I have kicked around the idea of getting a cat and we figure this is a good way to test drive one. She obviously hasn't belonged to someone in a LONG time with the condition that she was in. BTW, we have no idea if she's a she, we are just assuming she is.

So Mike runs up to the store to get cat food, kitty litter, a pooper scooper and a litter container. We warn Paige that we are may not keep her, we have to see how she'll work out with us. We feed her some more and she seems quite content. She makes herself right at home by climbing up on top of our recliner and sitting there like Queen Sheba. She tolerates Duchess being halfway up her ass and Paige manhandling her. She has obviously been someone's pet at one time. She even used the litter box!

However, when we went to bed, she became truly obnoxious. She would not stop meowing, crawling all over us, or digging in her litter box which was right outside our bedroom door at the end of the hall. At one point in the night, I was awoken by the sound of her digging in the litter box followed by the scent of cat shit. Lovely. Also because Duchess is truly retarded and thought she was a dog and wanted to play, I was kept awake by the sound of her footsteps chasing the cat all over the house. Which doesn't sound so bad, but we have (fake) hardwood floor in our hallway, living room and kitchen. So it was loud. Finally at 4 am, we put the cat, her food and water and litter box in Duchess's kennel downstairs. We could still hear her pathetic meow, but it wasn't as bad.

Because I don't trust cats and have never had one, they kind of freak me out because they can go ANYWHERE. I had visions of my couch being scratched all to hell and my Christmas tree being destroyed when I got home. So being the big meanie I am, we kept her in the kennel yesterday while we were both gone. We let her out while we were home, but put her back in last night and today. This cat is not declawed and we have caught her digging her claws into our furniture a few times. I also noticed my bedspread has a few small holes in it from her scratching.

So because of this paranoia, we've decided to give her up to the Humane Society. I think I can best sum it up by saying, I like cats, just not in my house. Paige was pretty upset by it, but we told her that we are just not the right home for this cat and that we are lucky to have Duchess. We have also kicked around the idea of getting another dog, but a small one like a mini schnauzer or shih tzu. I'm looking online for ones to adopt. So I'm going to run home today, get the cat and bring her back to Oconto to the Humane Society. Like I said, she is the sweetest thing and would make an excellent family cat, especially for someone with kids and a dog. She seemed to warm up to Duchess and even meowed and scratched at Paige's door when Duchess was in there while Mike read Paige her bedtime books. She seems like me the best and follows me around. I sometimes have second thoughts, but I know I just couldn't trust a cat in our house while I'm gone. Maybe that will change, but that's how I feel now. So, that just wouldn't be right to keep a cat crated up all day.

Hopefully she'll be online at the Oconto Humane Society website soon, and someone will adopt her. She'll be a great companion!