The Cat Who Wouldn't Be Caught

The mysterious Christian Grey...

A few weeks ago a cat started showing up around my house. I would often glimpse it in the mornings and evenings, when a lot of people and animals weren't really moving around. I tried going outside to see if I could coax it over a few times but as soon as it saw me the cat took off running like the devil was chasing it's tail!

Although I have never had a pet cat, I love cats and have come pretty close to adopting a cat a couple of times. The only thing really holding me back from happy cat ownership is an uncertainty of how my dogs would react to a feline housemate and how the cat would react to all of the birds and poultry inside and outside my home. The last thing I needed is for fur (or feathers) to start flying if my pets decided they weren't up to an inter-species relationship.

Despite my doubts about how a cat would fit into my household I'm still a softy when it comes to any animal in need. I convinced myself that even if I couldn't keep the cat myself (an extremely tempting idea) I could take the cat to an animal rescue. It was even possible the cat is actually someones lost pet, yet another reason to attempt to get my hands of the wily feline. Beyond that, I simply couldn't stop worrying that the cat was going hungry without anyone to feed it.

After it became clear that there was no way I was going to be able to get the cat to come over to me on it's own I decided to try gaining its trust with food. A couple days ago I made up a small bowl with a little bit of dog food, some meat scraps from a pot roast, cottage cheese, and milk. I took the bowl over to a place where I had seen the cat occasionally and tucked it into a safe looking place. I hoped that the cat would come and eat at night, even if I never managed to catch the kitty at least it would be getting a regular meal. When I went out to check the bowl yesterday morning it was still full. I was disappointed that the cat hadn't eaten at all but I decided to keep trying.

So far, I'm no closer to winning the trust of the cat or even making sure it isn't hungry but I have decided what it's name is. Since it's a grey tiger striped kitty I'm couldn't resist calling it Christian (even though I'm not sure what gender it is). If it turns out to be a girl maybe I'll change its name to Ana...