by Judith
(Milwaukee, WI)
Since I moved here in September of 2009, I have been feeding some stray cats (2 or 3) that have been hanging around our apartment complex and the surrounding neighborhood.
They do not allow me to get any closer than maybe 5 or 6 feet away, although one sometimes “talks” to me from the bushes in a very low-pitched “mowr”. About 4 months ago I was out in the parking lot in my wheelchair, talking with a service technician when one of these cats came over and jumped into my lap!
I gently and cautiously embraced him and then he jumped down and ran back into the bushes. A few minutes later he was back in my lap, purring! A few days later he got up the courage to come inside (we were having a blizzard.), although I had made a cozy little place for them outside. The next evening he again came inside.
I introduced him to my other two cats, the poop pan, water and food. When it was time for me to go to bed, I found him in the middle of my bed! After checking with the local humane societies and veterinarians, I learned that nobody has reported him missing. He has no fleas, but he does have a huge appetite! Then we looked closer.. “he” was a female… and was looking very pregnant. But after 4 months nothing has happened and she has lost some of the weight she added just after coming here. She is called “Samantha”.
For the first couple of months she would jump up onto me whenever the opportunity arose, grab onto my shoulder and snuggle in my arms as if she was afraid someone was going to grab her away. Wish there was a way to find out just what brought her here, where she’s been.
She does not eat dry cat food. Correction, on the rare occasion when she eats dry cat food, she swallows it whole without chewing.
She is a very large (18″ long from head to rump, 16#) American Shorthair cat, dark gray & white. Her size, muscliness (is that a word?) and low voice are what first led me to believe that she was a male cat.
But she is terrified of thunderstorms. The first one we had she ran inside and jumped onto my bed! And most nights she sleeps with me, much to my other cats’ chagrin.
I can’t say that she gets along with my two older cats (16 and 21 years), but they each have “their” sleeping spots and eating spots and tolerate each other.
I just hope I don’t get caught having a 3rd cat here, as they do not allow more than 2 cats per household.
Judith