So for a couple months now we've had this cat coming around to our house. It was right when weather started getting cold. I didn't feed it...at first. It looked so clean I figured it had a family. Plus it was so chunky. It came by the next night...I'm figuring to visit Kaguya...and wasn't back for a couple weeks. It came by a couple nights in a row so I set some food out for it. It ate it all up. That was it tho. I couldn't let it in cuz what if it was contagious. I couldn't live with myself if I exposed Kaguya to FelV. But I couldn't just let the cat stay out in the cold (this is december in Michinga...cold cold cold!) so I called Animal control but they don't do cats. The polica said no reports of a missing cat were there. So I called the humane society but they were closed on the weekends (the cat only seemed to come by on friday afternoons) so I made an executive decision. If it came by again I would set up and appt w/ a vet to get it tested for FelV and until we could be sure Kaguya wasn't in any danger I would keep it in the back room. So when it came back by (i knew it would) I closed off the back room of the house (where the puter is) and let the cat in thru the sliding glass door in that room. I set up a litter box and food and water for it. It came in, ate practically the whole bowl and stayed the whole night... didn't use the litter box tho...and left no accidents. I came down when I woke up and opened the door to see if it wanted to leave, and it did, so off it went. I was worried, but by this time it had been coming around for about a month and was still relatively healthy looking and clean..inspite of all the mud on the road (most of our roads around here aren't paved) It didn't come back for a couple weeks, but when it did I let it in the house again for a night, then it wanted to leave. A couple days ago it came back and was sleeping in our flower boxes in front of the windows. Well this hurt my heart. I had always assumed it had another family and it was escaping and coming to visit us, but wouldnt' a cat go back home to sleep...someplace where it's safe? I assumed it was sleeping in the flower box cuz they're off the ground. So i set up the back room and lured thecat back there. It stayed until it woke up then left...and came back last night. Last night it was freezing outside so in it came. When i woke up i came down to check on it and noticed it was limping. I can't imagine how it hurt itself and I can't see any wound (as close as it would let me get...I'm not pushing it) You can see in the pic it's favoring the paw. So i did the usual open the door to see if it wanted to leave, and it did, but came right back about 5 minutes later. That's when i took the pic. Right now it's laying by the door to the rest of the house pawing and meowing occasionally cuz Kaguya is on the other side of the door doing the same thing. I wish I could let them together and play but I can't risk her...not after Kikyo. So I satisfy my conscience by taking care of the cat seperately. And even if i do take it in to get tested, i can never let it leave again. otherwise we'd have to test it each time it came back. So I now have a parttime cat who is sleeping in the sun. I'm such a sucker
