Friday, November 21, 2008

The Homeless of Pleasantville

My friend Andrea has just recently moved to Pleasantville. She has a house in a neighborhood that is full of cats. Andrea is not a major fan of cats. We share similar views on the subject. Some are great but others we could do without. Cats are on a case-by- case basis. We both prefer big, fat orange cats. Andrea always says that she’s not likely to turn into a crazy cat lady since she isn’t that crazy about cats.

The vast majority of cats on Andrea’s street are wild, with several obviously pregnant cats as well as many kittens. So Andrea does what any reasonable person living in a neighborhood teeming with an out-of-control feral cat population would do. She feeds them.

As you might imagine, the cat food does not last long once it has been placed on her front porch. Usually several cats will spot the food and stop in for a meal. Many times it will be one of the mother cats with her kittens.

Just recently Andrea was having furniture delivered to her new house. I was waiting with her for the delivery people. While we were waiting, Andrea discovered a tame kitten on her front porch. Of course he needed to be fed, so she put food out and we went back inside. I looked out the window and saw a steady stream of cats and kittens heading for Andrea’s porch.

The furniture truck arrived and we could hear the men talking as soon as they got close to the house with one of them saying, “Wow, look at all those kittens!” Andrea stood at her front door armed with a bucket of cat food as they walked up to her cat-filled porch.

Me- “I think you’re going to have a really hard time convincing anyone that you are not a crazy cat lady.”

Before I had left she had already allowed the tame kitten not only into her house but also let him sit on her new couch. I think it’s just a matter of time before she's storing dead cats in her closet.

7 comments:

J. said...

Sweet and sad at the same time. One way to help humanely reduce the population is to catch the females and have them spayed, so there are fewer kittens. It can be pricey, but some vets will do it on a reduced-fee basis.

Anonymous said...

They could take up drag racing on her street. (I know it's a horrible thought.)

It is a bit of a leap to go from tame-kitten-on-the-new-couch to dead-in-the-closet (unless it's an oversite). Before long her house will be overrun on the inside and they will be sleeping on the bed and they will all have multiple names. Then, only after much bonding will they get saved to the freezer (for proper burial in the spring).

Anonymous said...

That's a lot of kitty's! I had a few strays that found refuge on my deck furniture every night in the town I used to live in. They were sweet and I fed them, as did half the neighborhood. But we had nothing like what your describing. It's a tragedy that there is such an over population of them but nice to see your friend take the time to care.

Dr Zibbs said...

Cats. I have no use for them.

Jack said...

There was this movie where more and more cats kept showing up around this house. They were waiting . . . and waiting . . . and waiting . . . and then . . . (to be continued)

Julia said...

I am guilty of supporting five cats but my husband has put his foot down and said the next one that shows up gets high speed lead poisoning. I have to agree somewhat that there must be a limit. All mine are fixed. Maybe you should persuade your impartial cat loving friend to trap and spay/neuter the enclave.(we have tons of low cost clinics). :)

Anonymous said...

Julia & J.,

I had the same thought to try to catch them and take them to the vet to be fixed and given shots, etc. It is definately something I will be checking into.

Lisa,
Don't worry -- it is unlikely I will have a house full of cats given my dislike for litter boxes.