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The Cat That Came In from the Cold

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With the temperature dropping below freezing, I let the cat in on the window sill.  That's as far as my wife will let her enter the house.  The small gray tabby has been coming around our yard for several years now.  She has survived at least three winters as far as I can tell, maybe more.  Hard to put an age on a cat but I would say no more than five, as it was a juvenile when we first saw her pitch up along with what looked like her darker sibling.  They both had the same mottled brown mixed into their coats and were the same size.  The darker sibling still appears on rare occasions.  I assume she found sympathetic hosts somewhere else in Žverynas.

We thought it might have been our neighbors' cat as we saw her sitting on their window sill from time to time, but they expressed no interest in the ashen feline.  She seemed so thin a few weeks back, so I started feeding her.  Little nibbles at first but then I started buying small packets of more nutritious cat food to give her a proper meal each morning.  Content, she would usually go away after a little petting, but then she started pitching up throughout the day and into the evening, crying at the window sill.  She wanted attention mostly.  She was happy to curl up on my or my daughter's lap.  My wife wasn't too keen about having the cat around but she couldn't resist petting her from time to time.  Her fur is silky smooth.

She was obviously a house cat at one point, given how content she is perched on the window sill.  Laid down a little blanket for her, which she curls up in and sleeps most of the day, waking up around four or five, although not too anxious to go back outside.  Afraid we might not let her back in, I guess.  Our daughter wants us to take in the cat permanently, but we are expecting a puppy in January and neither my wife nor I are too happy about having to take care of two pets.  Not like we will throw the cat out in the middle of winter, but she won't have as much attention.

Ash, as we call her, became a more permanent fixture ever since our previous Corgi died back in March.  She and Chu Chu had an odd relationship.  Each morning the little dog would chase her out of the bushes where she made her bed at night.  Ash was none too happy about it, but would go about her way, keeping her distance from the dog.  She returned each evening.  Our daughter would play with her outside on the terrace.  The dog would go crazy inside, running back and forth in front of the plate glass window, barking at my daughter as if to say what are you doing with that little beast?  She would continue playing with the cat beyond Chu Chu's field of vision, but the dog could still smell the cat on her when she came in.

Sensing the dog was no longer around, Ash pretty much took up permanent residence in our courtyard.  I built a little cat house for her out of rigid insulation as the weather turned colder in October, but she hasn't really warmed up to the place.  I put it in different spots around the yard.  The styrofoam house is now nestled under a fir tree within eyesight of the dining room window, but naturally she prefers the window sill with the radiator underneath.  Much warmer.

She really is no bother.  She sleeps virtually the whole time, as cats are prone to do.  Whenever she gets a little restless, my daughter or I let her curl up on one of our laps.  That seems to settle her down.  It is comforting having the little cat on the window sill.  There is some pain when we turn her out each evening, especially when she comes back crying at the window.  

We worried at first, but she turns up each morning not overly chilled.  So, she either has made a little nest for herself under the creeping juniper or has another gracious host somewhere else in the neighborhood.  She certainly has fattened up.  I no longer feel her ribs when I pet her.  No telling how many meals she gets per day or if she augments her breakfast with chirping sparrows she snares while prowling the courtyard.  She's brought a couple of these little birds to the window sill.  One still had enough life in it to fly away.

Having claimed the courtyard as her own, it will be interesting to see how she reacts to the new dog.  He will be no more than 3 months old, quite small, and probably easy enough for her to establish dominance.  However, she is a bit skittish and might run away from the dog as she always did Chu Chu.  My daughter holds out hope the two can get along and that eventually her mother will relent in letting the cat have full range of the house.  I don't think so.  My wife will only tolerate the cat so long as it is not a nuisance. 

In the meantime, Ash enjoys the window sill.  The perfect place for a cat coming in from the cold.


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