Stray Cats and People

As you can tell by my blog I am an animal lover. My husband is not. I feed every stray that comes to the door. He boots them away.

After almost 3 years of marriage he is finally getting used to the idea that animals are a big part of my life and that God teaches me things through them.

I would like to share about a stray that comes here. Let me back up. Since coming here we have had stray cats come to our door. Most run off, but once in the while one will stay. Some time ago a large Tom cat showed up, with a tiny kitten. This kitten could not even eat on it's own and was quite scared. It took a week to get her to come close to me, but the Tom came right away. He was super friendly, and was by the steps one day when my husband walked out. I told my husband that "he was a friendly Tom". (the cat, not my husband). The cat meowed, so I said Tom again, and he responded the same. I said "come here Tom" and he did. My guess was someone dumped them off and this was Tom. I fed Tom and he would climb on me for his loving all the time. The kitten was not so. She had to be coaxed and bribed to come, jumped away at every move and was a real scardey cat. She was so tiny I worried about her. She finally would come and let me pet her and after a bit would climb up on my lap, and then into the house (husband was not happy, but she was hurt and he realized how much I was feeling at the time).

Somehow the Tom would come back injured all the time, and then one day did not show up and has not been back. However, some time later another stray took his place. This stray started stealing the food from the original cat (Rick's from before all the strays). I finally started feeding him so that our cat could eat. No matter what I have tried he is there for food, but will not let me close. He is jumpy, runs off and does not want to get close. He has been here since June, and finally comes just out of my arms reach. He will cry at the door if I am not there on time, will eat the food, but not let me get close.

I look at the difference in these three strays. Kind of like people huh? They show up and some are friendly right away. Easy to make friends with and want to be friends. Others you have to coax out of their shell and finally they realize you are not out to hurt them. Then their are others that have been hurt so much in the past they will not come close to anyone, but are there for what you have to give them.

Here is my "mooch". He will not let me close, but here he is begging for his food.
He will not eat until he watches me go in the door and then hears it close. This pic was taken through the screen so it is not as good as the other.
He is all black with a white tip on his tail. A pretty cat. All three strays are black, but that was their only similarity.

I can't help but think of people and how some that are so standoffish may be that way for a reason. I am not going to give up on this black cat. I will continue to feed him and try. He has taught me a lesson about people maybe I can learn more as I keep on trying to befriend him.

Dog Logic

My brother sent the following in an email. I thought it was cute and wanted to share it.






The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail instead
of his tongue. -Anonymous



There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face.
-Ben Williams


A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he
loves himself. -Josh Billings



The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.
-Andy Rooney


Dogs love their friends and bite their enemies, quite unlike people,
who are incapable of pure love and always have to mix love and hate.



Anybody who doesn't know what soap tastes like never washed a dog.
-Franklin P. Jones



If your dog is fat, you aren't getting enough exercise .
-Unknown

My dog is worried about the economy because Alpo is up to $3.00 a
can. That's almost $21.00 in dog money. -Joe Weinstein





If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not
bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man.
-Mark Twain


Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.
-Roger Caras

If you think dogs can't count, try putting three dog biscuits in your
pocket and then give him only two of them. -Phil Pastoret

Friendships

I love animals. I find it so much fun to watch their antics, their handling life and the way they all have their own personalities (animalalities?).

I can remember as a child going to my grandfathers house on the lake. He had a dock and on the left side of the dock was a small peninsula. I used to love to sit and watch the otters play, sliding down the hill and into the water. They seemed to have so much fun as a family.

As an adult we took the kids camping and I loved the animals then too. Skunks, foxes, raccoons and other critters used to be joining our family. We put stuff out for the skunks just to bring them into our site. Do you know they do not want to spray any more than you want them too? No startling moves and they are fine. I loved it!

I was always one of those people who would have some critter follow me home. Even as an adult, they follow me. Jack rabbits stand up and listen to me talk to them and not run off. The neighbors goats come running, the cows in the other pasture come to me and I can usually calm an animal before they take off or growl too long.

However, I also love to watch animal friendships. They are sometimes more odd than people friendships. Over the years I have seen cats adopt puppies and puppies cats. Here in Texas there are these birds that look like small sea gulls or something and they hang around the cows. They go up to the cows mouths, ride on their backs picking bugs off, or just riding and hanging around them in general. We have a roadrunner that loves to come just outside our dogs reach and they watch each other.

In 1977 we got a 5 week old black kitten from a friend. This kitten grew up to be 28 lbs and a great cat. Some time later we were given a black lab puppy and the two became friends. They had a game between them. It was always started by the cat climbing up into a chair in the dining room and when Cindy (the dog) walked by, Tom would swat her on the head, jump over her and start running. Cindy would then give chase. Around the hall, through the living room, the dining room, back into the hall, up the stairs, about the bedroom, down the stairs, through the living room, dining room, hall, well, you get the picture. The game then ended when the cat would jump back on the same chair, hit Cindy on the head and lay down. Cindy went off and laid down too and it was over, till the next time Tom wanted to play.

Many years later this same cat made friends with our cockatiel, Godzilla. Godzilla could talk a lot and learned to call the cat "here kitty, kitty, Tom cat, here kitty kitty". Tom would come running in, well as fast as a 19 year old cat can run, and lay down on the floor. Godzilla would then fly down and clean the area between Tom's ears on the top of his head as well as just sit by him. They were friends till Tom died.

Saturday I was looking through some email and following some links and ended up being reminded of friendships, first in the animal world and then realizing people friendships can be just as odd. For some funny animal friendships look here, here and here.

God made us all unique with no two exactly alike. Think of your friends and those you like to be around. Are they opposite you? Have a lot the same as you? Are they the way you wish you could be but are not? Are you trying to learn from them? Are you and your best friend as nutty a pair as some of these animals or are you the same?

Be thankful for your friends. Let them know you are thankful for them. No matter how you are matched or mismatched we can all learn from each other, encourage each other and help each other grow. Even if your friend


is a porcupine and you an armadillo.