Our quiet cat Olive.
I have learned that it’s not a good idea to put out dry food for a stray cat. Do you know what happens? More cats appear out of nowhere! Just like that! Who knew?
It all began on Wednesday when my dear friend from Snohomish came over with her Cabi clothes. (Cabi is Carol Anderson By Invitation, a shopping experience where you invite your friends into your home to try on outfits with a ‘stylist’ who helps you put together outfits.) For the past few years, Tonja, who is a top notch Cabi stylist—top 10 in the nation, top notch—has come from our hometown to my house and I’ve co-hosted parties with a friend. I love the clothes BTW. And this year’s Spring 2019 Collection is inspired by the colors of Palm Springs.
Wednesday night, Tonja and her husband, dropped off the clothes for the Thursday night party. We set up two clothing racks in our living room and off they went to their hotel. Our door was open and Loud Mouth Cryer Cat walked right in, like he/she owned the place! We have never seen this cat before in our lives, but honestly, you hear this cat well before you see it. Our kitty Olive, who barely knows how to meow (it’s more of a muffled “meh”) stood and stared. They stood and stared for about 15 minutes with this new creature crying in a loud guttural voice from under the clothing rack. The sound of nightmares!
Come on in, don’t wait for an invite, Cryer Cat.
I tried something crazy. I shut the back door and Cryer Cat was locked inside. He/she promptly went nuts and ran straight up the wall caterwauling (cat-er-walling?) for the few seconds I had the doors shut. Then she ran out as soon as there was an opening. I felt sorry for the kitty, although he/she looks well fed. I put out some dry cat food outside the back door.
Cryer Cat cried and cried. This went on from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. nonstop. Ugh. He/she found a particularly comfortable spot to cry right outside our bedroom window.
A Cabi cat stand-off.
The next day, I noticed the small dish of cat food was empty. I refilled it. A few hours later, I heard the crying again. So, I went outside to see if I could find the Cryer Cat. No luck. Instead, there was a large well-fed black and white cat at the food bowl. Olive cat stood a few feet away, staring. I heard Cryer Cat mewling around somewhere, along with other unidentified meowers. Maybe this idea of feeding a stray cat because i felt sorry for it, wasn’t such a good idea. I can just imagine what my yard would look like after a few more days of putting out food.
My daughter is coming home with Worldwide Waffles. She assured me there would be no more stray cats willing to risk our back yard ever again. I’m just hoping Olive doesn’t give up on us, too.
Waffles chases cats for sport.
If you’ve put out food for stray cats, how did it work for you?
We’ve acquired most of our cats through the backyard-feeding-sympathy method. But…I largely blame our cats for this. What frequently happens is our indoor cats put out some kind of advertisement (maybe they get bored?) and somehow alert outdoor strays that we will feed cats if they are very persistent. It takes a while to wear us down but it usually works and that is followed by inviting the cat inside, and then they never leave.
Thank you for your comments. I do think my cat is sending messages to the loud crying cat. The cat comes by every a.m. before 4 and 5 and cries loudly at our window! I broke down and put out a bowl of food — again!