Our old kitty (18.5 years) had to be 'helped to rest' last May, 3.5 years after he received a 4 month life expectancy with metastatic mast-cell cancer. Lots of tender loving care got him through those years! My husband and I were kind of exhausted, mentally (and me physically, a little, won't go into my regime as nursemaid), and we agreed we weren't looking for a new cat right off. We have two vacations booked yet this year (a family visit and an overseas tour), and I thought some travel without having to worry about boarding a four-legged family member would be good.
Well, yesterday we were just home from shopping (having come in through the garage) when we heard an imperative (not plaintive) mew-mew-mew from outside. I opened the front door and a little ball of black and white hurled itself at me! I snatched it up and by the time I got it to my chest, it was purring! It's a He and guessing about 3 months old, maybe four. My DH said, we can't just keep someone's kitty! I countered that we couldn't very well leave him outside to mew himself to death, either. I got out a litterbox and waterdish, made and hung FOUND: KITTEN signs, and went to the store for kitten chow. By the time I got back, peering in through the blinds, the little rascal was on the back of DH's chair napping -- while DH was sitting in the chair no less!
He's very social, purrs constantly, weaves around our feet as we [try to] walk through the house, not at all skittish. He has no fleas, no runny nose or weepy eyes, glossy coat; he was hungry but not starving. -- someone is either missing this little tyke like crazy or they did a great job picking a house to abandon him in front of! He plays with the toy mouse with agility, jumps into either of our laps (taking turns), naps on my wrists as I type on the notebook computer, snuggles next to DH for another nap... you get it.
So we spent today bonding with him, obviously. Not that we wouldn't return him to a previous owner, but no phonecalls today. And it's hard to imagine anyone *losing* a cat this size, accidentally. If no phonecalls all of tomorrow I will probably be taking him in for a well-kitten exam on Wednesday!
He's very curious:
