This is NOT my cat.

This is SUPPOSED to be my neighbor’s cat.  She (or neutered he?) is an indoor/outdoor cat.

About three weeks ago my neighbor moved out.  I guess that when it came time to gather up this cat he forgot to make sure that all of the doors and windows to his apartment were closed because when he tried to put her into her carrier she clawed over his shoulder and went straight through the (open) sliding glass door, over the side of the balcony and hid in the crawl space under our building.  I discovered this when I saw him wandering back and forth in our courtyard calling “kitty! kitty!” and making kissy noises. I’m a sucker for a lost pet so I gave him some of the kitty treats that always bring Poppy running from whatever hiding space she’s crawled into in our apartment and offered to help get her out.  I’m something of a pet whisperer, at least with cats and little critters, but my neighbor said no.

Ten minutes later he knocked on our door to tell me that he had to give up for the day because he had somewhere to be but that he’d be back the next day.  I asked if he wanted to leave his phone number so that, if she (neutered he?) came out I could call him so he could come pick her up.  He said no thanks and left.

I haven’t seen him since.

Two weeks ago Will was out on our balcony when he heard a cat crying.  He looked down and saw the neighbor’s cat looking back up at him.  She (let’s just go with she) looked scared but she cried to him anyway, so he dropped down some of our cat food for her to eat and then left me to deal with things because he had to go to work. I spent the next three hours crouched down in the grass next to our balcony trying to coax her out.  This poor cat was absolutely terrified.  She was shaking really badly and crying at me and I honestly couldn’t tell if it was one of those “get awaaayyyy” cries or more of a “I don’t know you so I’m scared but I’m hungry and need some attention” cries. I tried to keep my distance but would creep closer every once in a while as she got used to me.

Side note:  We also have quite a few of these guys that hang out in that space:

The whole time I was out there, I was fighting the urge to get down on all fours to try to reach under the crawl space because look at all the ducks!  Think of all of the duck poo that I was probably crouched in right at that moment!  My brain was fighting overwhelming spasms of “don’t touch the grass! Duck poo! Don’t touch the grass! Duck poo!” I ended up doing a lot of squatty walking–if that makes any sense at all.  Anyway! Side note over!

After a REALLY long time the cat came out to let me pet her and to eat some more food and drink some water.  And this is where I failed.  After petting her for a few minutesI got all brave and “in charge” and I grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and tried to put her into our cat carrier. I wanted to be able to hand her off to our landlord so that she could call the neighbor to come pick the cat up and take her home. I felt bad but I really wanted the situation to not be my problem anymore.  The cat and I had quite a wrestling match for a few minutes but eventually she got free and went sprinting back under the balcony and refused to come out.  I was really irritated, both at my neighbor for leaving the cat behind in the first place (who DOES THAT?) and at me for not being able to really capture her.  Later Will told me “it’s okay, you’re just not mean enough to do stuff like that” which…thanks? I guess?  I gave up and called the landlord to tell her that the cat was still around and to ask her to pass my number along to my neighbor so that he could call me himself and get an update and to maybe make arrangements to come back out to get his cat.

Fast forward early this week.  I haven’t heard a single word from my neighbor–no phone call, nothing (he might be mad at me for accidentally “outing” his cat ownership to our landlord who had no idea that he was with pet. Oops).  I’m opening our windows and I see the cat out in the tall grass by the creek looking quite a bit like she is about to try to get one of the ducks.  I’m not about to let her go after any of the ducks (I’ve known most of them since they were duckling babies! Most of them recognize my voice and will come running when I call to them!  This is not actually a good thing but, um, it is still kind of neat) so I go out to the balcony and call for her and drop some food on the ground in front of our balcony.  She comes running but won’t come up onto the balcony because she is still really skittish.  I repeat this same scenario for a few days and then! On Wednesday! I opened our blinds and guess who is nosing around on our balcony!  She ran away when she saw me but it didn’t take long for me to coax her back up onto our balcony with a dish of food.  After only a few minutes (during which she inhaled that whole bowl of food, poor thing) she was crying to be pet and rubbing her face all over me.

Apparently the need for food and affection won out over the fear and it turns out?  This cat is really sweet. Of course my own cat, the famous Poppy, wants nothing to do with her.  And was so ticked off at me for petting this other cat that she wouldn’t come near me until I took a shower to wash off the other cat smell (and then put on fresh, non cat petty, clothes).

Now the cat cries at our balcony door when she’s hungry or needs attention.  She’s made a bed out of our grill cover (that we keep forgetting to put back on our grill and leave lying on balcony floor).  She is trying to make friends with Poppy (through the door of course).  Poppy is not interested.

People.  I am not adopting this cat.  I know that I’m a softie and yes, if I had my way, I would adopt ALL of the animals that need a good home but I cannot adopt this cat.  We don’t have the money for a second pet deposit.  We aren’t sure if she’s litter box trained (probably not the best selling point I know but there you go).  Our current cat is not interested in sharing her people.  I also don’t want her to get used to being loved on and petted on our balcony because there is no way to guarantee that whoever lives here after us will be as nice to her.

So.  Do you want a cat?  Do you live close enough to come pick her up?  She really is very sweet once she gets over her skittishness.  She is also quite the talker.  And look how cute she is! Please?  Every kitty needs a person.