A New Cat

It isn’t really a new cat but one that’s getting more bold. There’s a big white/gray cat that we catch about once a year in a trap. We’ve seen him several times late in the evening eating from Cat’s food bowl. Vince went out last night and they were both sitting on Cat’s “cat perch”. Cat was on top and the other cat was on the middle shelf.

I’ve always thought Cat was saving food for that guy. In the evenings Cat will whine and complain til we give her extra food but when we go out at dark to close up the shop, there’s always food left in the bowl. I don’t know if it’s true but it seems like Cat wants to make sure there’s some amount of food for her friend.

I wonder if I would take the time to make friends with that cat like I did Cat, if I wouldn’t be farther along with him right now. Cat, being a tortoise shell, is so persnickety and difficult to deal with.

The other day I walked over to the shop. Cat was sitting in her bed and was meowing nicely at me. That usually means she wants to be petted but now that she has turned on me and loves Vince, she mostly ignores me. I stopped at a distance, talked to her for a few minutes, blinked my eyes very slowly. She continued to meow like she was saying “please pet me!”. I reached my hand out to her but not terribly close in case she didn’t want me to pet her . . just to see her reaction and . . she hissed at me. OK then! I’ll proceed to do what I was doing and leave you alone!

Maybe in the spring if we’re still seeing the white/gray cat hang around more, I’ll spend some time trying to get to know him. It isn’t like we need another cat but I’d at least like for him to come comfortable coming her to get food and fresh water.

We keep water out in four or five places for the critters during the summer. There are rabbits, foxes, cats, squirrels, and critters I really don’t like .. possums, raccoons, skunks . . but in the summer when it’s so hot and no water to be found, putting water out means whatever finds it gets a free drink.