No, ABSOLUTELY NOT.

  This stray cat has hung out by the shed in our back yard for the past two weeks. 

Bill said, "Do not start feeding it. That cat belongs to someone."

 It was timid, yowled, and ran off when I came close... unless I had food. Each day it allowed me to get closer without darting away. I sweet talked and coaxed it.  

 "You have to stop feeding it." The big guy insisted. Yet every morning I saw Bill sneak outside with the fried egg yolks from his breakfast and leave them for the cat.

Winter temperatures were imminent. I felt sorry for the cat. I made it a shelter using a styrofoam cooler, added a blanket and enticed it inside the box with food. It gulped, ran out, and skeedaddled.

The next day, guess who greeted us at our back door. I opened the door.

"Here baby, come on Kitty." But it was scared, yowled, and ran off to hide by the shed.

"Do NOT let that cat inside this house." The big guy said. "We do not need another cat."

"That cat needs us." I replied. "Poor thing is going to be out in the cold, and it's going to snow soon. Today it has a scratch on its nose. It has had a rough way to go. It's hungry and so scared."

The big guy walked away shaking his head. I coaxed the cat inside, and...


 
 it ran right to Bill who was resting in his chair. He tried to be a hard nose. He furrowed his brows. Then the cat jumped up on his lap. Look at my big bad honey trying to tame a smile.

"Well you poor little thing. If you'd quit that caterwauling and yowling... no forget it! You aren't staying in here. And you'd better not have claws!"

I sat on the sofa and listened to him feel sorry for the cat with claws. "You are on borrowed time, buddy. You are going outside tonight, so don't get comfy. We cannot have another cat. You are cute though, but that mouth of yours! Aww,  poor baby, you like your ears rubbed? Who attacked your face? You aren't much of a fighter are you, bud?"

The cat crawled up into the crook of Bill's arm and buried its head and snoozed for two hours. It was terrified of every sound and shadow. So this was probably the only peaceful sleep it's had in a while.

I said, "Imagine how grateful this poor baby is to be inside where it's warm and safe."

Bill looked over at me and said, "Oh you know I'm a softy at heart, but it better quit howling, or it's going!"

IT WENT! Back to sleep again.

"Yes dear," I said. "It's going to a vet in the morning to see if it has an ID chip."

It did! The cat had been adopted from the Pet Smart nearby. They provided contact info. The phone number was disconnected, so we went by the house (2 miles away) and left a note and our contact info in this guy's mailbox.

I had first seen the cat across the street in the farmer's barren field. We assumed it was his barn cat. The farmer recently passed away, so we thought sure the cat had been abandoned. We now think the cat's owner probably dumped it in the farmer's field ( two miles away.) Poor baby was so afraid, and obviously not an outdoors cat. It has been stressed, on high alert, and in survival mode.

We waited and waited for a phone call which never came. So we went to the store and purchased a litter pan and food.

This little loud mouth GIRL is ours, or should I say Bill's. She adores him. Her yowling has ceased but she is quite a "talker" so I think we'll call her Sassy, because she has such a sassy mouth.

Three days, and she is adapting well.

Bill? Well he cuddles her and and calls her "boy" and "buddy" but she doesn't mind. He murmurs, "Yes, I know you're a girl, but you're going to be my little buddy, aren't you?"