Number five

Well, I'm back after a break of 4days. It has been a hard four days for me and Tetsu could probably say the same just because I threw myself at him and depended on him so much.

The short end to the story is that we have a new cat living at our house. I'm not sure if it has a name or not yet. This makes five cats you know... and it's only been a little over a month since Chip arrived.

Wednesday night I opened the back door and this cat ran into the house. Panic for me but I think the other cats were so surprised that they just froze and watched it wander calmly around the room. In a few seconds it had sniffed out Choco's food bucket and was trying to get the lid off of it. I know enough to realize that if I fed it that it wouldn't go away but it was so skinny and so in earnest about tipping over the lidded bucket. I called Tetsu. He takes everything so in stride.

"Okay. Put it outside with some dog food and maybe it will be satisfied and go somewhere. If it is still around when I get home let me decide what to do."

So I did, but I called my neighbor Mrs. Yano and she came over right away. She is a animal lover too but not quite as unreasonable as I am so she observed the cat that was now under our car and gave her opinion that yes, this was another stray but probably old enough to take care of itself for awhile. Tetsu came home at this point and held the door open for the cat who happily walked back into the house, jumped up on the armchair, rolled itself into a ball and went to sleep. Completely at home!

Actually I had seen this cat at a distance a couple of weeks ago in the neighborhood but had purposely walked in the other direction. As Tetsu and Mrs. Yano debated about whether this was a neighbor's cat or not (it was so at home with people, so clean and pampered looking albeit it too thin) I went to talk with a neighbor boy who had told me last month that he had brought a stray cat back from the elementary school. Yes, it is the same cat. The boy had found it on his way home from school, brought it home, his mother had told him he couldn't keep it so he had left it in the park with some food. In the past three weeks it has lived near the park with 4 or 5 other strays (I never go near the park) and the kids in the neighborhood and an older lady have been feeding the cats. Well, there were complaints and so the feeding stopped and now all these strays have dispersed into the neighborhood looking for food. So yes, I know that this is a stray.


Tetsu thinks this a wonderful cat. So friendly and it loves people's laps. "It is our cat" he says and tells me not to worry about it. Okay. Fine. Now we have 5 cats. I bought it a collar. The English kids tell me they had given it a name. I've put two cat toilets into use.

Whether because of cat stress or just the changing seasons, on Friday I was down with a cold and stayed in bed all day. In the evening I went out to bring Choco inside and there was ANOTHER very small kitten. I completely lost it. I called Tetsu and asked him to come home right away and take me someplace. I just couldn't handle another cat problem.

Tetsu came home, the kitten was gone into the forest by then but even so Tetsu took me out and we stayed away from home for about 4 hours. Yesterday morning again we spent most of the day away again and there have been no repeat visits. You know where this leaves me. I feel sad that I couldn't and didn't help the last kitten but I'm afraid my sanity is at stake right now.

And yes, I am very happy with the new cat. Chip is over joyed because now she has a cat friend that will PLAY and will sleep with her! The two cuddle up in the chair. Velvet is accepting. Cleo and Patora have escaped to the top of the closets again. (It took them a week to come down when Chip first arrived). Choco cannot believe there is another cat in the house and barks furiously. The new cat is friendly with everyone even Choco, and purrs continuously.

I really need to get my head together. Give the cat a name. See if I can find someone to take it? It is such a sweety. You can see though that it seems my life will forever be inundated with strays and pitiful animals. I know there are worse problems in life.

Your love is faithful, LORD, and even the clouds in the sky can depend on you.
Your decisions are always fair.
They are firm like mountains, deep like the sea, and all people and animals are under your care.

Psalms 36:5-6