I've been dealing with a nasty cold since Saturday of last week and just haven't had much energy. Finally Sunday evening i set out to do some errands (like getting about 50 pounds of kitty litter from Petco!). As i started to get in my car, i saw a little cat trotting down the driveway and when i spoke to him, he came running towards me with his tail in the air. Then he ran right past me, circled around and came back for a sniff. I've seen this cat wandering around in the neighborhood recently and have wondered if he had a home.
He let me pick him up and i saw he was wearing a collar with a tag with a couple of phone numbers on it. "Skittles" is his name, according to his tag. I figured i'd call the phone numbers just to make sure he hadn't been left behind, or strayed, or whatever. I plopped him in the car, got out my cellphone, and held him on my lap while keying the numbers into my phone. Neither phone number worked! That made me fear that he'd been left behind when someone moved. I got out of the car, he hopped out after me, and followed me back to the house. I asked Skittles if he'd like to go indoors, and when i opened the door, he eagerly pushed his way in, sniffing everywhere with his chocolate brown nose (Skittles is a smallish white cat with brown tabby points, a brown splotch on his nose, a brown striped tail, and a couple of brown striped splotches on his flank).
Sylvie hopped down from her perch on a kitchen chair and approached Skittles, growling at him. He looked rather nonplussed but held his ground. Then Gingy came up from the basement, and seeing Sylvie growling at Skittles, started hissing at him (or her...had to tell who she was growling at!). Skittles wandered off to explore the rest of the house, the females trailing him. All of a sudden Louie went flashing past me (he'd been sound asleep on the couch, moments earlier) and confronted Skittles in the study. Skittles put his nose out and Louie gave him a nose kissy. Skittle reacted to this overture in a funny way...he hopped up on my study chair and tried to swipe at Louie from there! in fact, he swiped so hard he fell off the chair, practically landing on Louie, who was quite calm about the whole thing!
Skittles ended up in the living room, with Louie on one side of him and Fuzzy cautiously approaching him from the other. Fuzzy didn't growl, but his body language wasn't real friendly either. At last Skittles ended up back in the kitchen and meowed pitifully at the back door to go back out (he had stopped and sniffed the food bowls, and was getting ready to drink some water, when he appeared to think better of it). As soon as i let him out he dashed off the back steps and pounced on some leaves, letting off tension, i'm sure.
Skittles wasn't hanging around when i got back from doing my errands. I tried the phone numbers again with no luck. I did reverse lookup on one phone number and got an address over on the next street, so i stopped there last night on the way home from work. No one answered the door, finally a boy about 14-years old with long hair and carrying an electric guitar came to the door, with 2 or 3 younger brothers clustering around behind him. I asked him if they have a small cat...at that very moment, i heard a familiar meow, and Skittles came out of the shadows, rubbed against my ankles, and dashed into the house. The boy with the guitar picked him up, cradling him on his back, Skittles put his paw on the boy's nose...well that answered that question! I told them i had been afraid Skittles was a stray or abandoned since i live over on the next block and saw him wandering around, the boys just looked at me as if i'd grown another head.
I really didn't get any conversation from the boys except that one phone had been disconnected and the other one didn't have any minutes on it. I'll keep an eye out for Skittles in the future...but don't think we need to offer him a home anytime soon. Sylvie, Gingy, Fuzzy, and Louie are all breathing sighs of relief!
He let me pick him up and i saw he was wearing a collar with a tag with a couple of phone numbers on it. "Skittles" is his name, according to his tag. I figured i'd call the phone numbers just to make sure he hadn't been left behind, or strayed, or whatever. I plopped him in the car, got out my cellphone, and held him on my lap while keying the numbers into my phone. Neither phone number worked! That made me fear that he'd been left behind when someone moved. I got out of the car, he hopped out after me, and followed me back to the house. I asked Skittles if he'd like to go indoors, and when i opened the door, he eagerly pushed his way in, sniffing everywhere with his chocolate brown nose (Skittles is a smallish white cat with brown tabby points, a brown splotch on his nose, a brown striped tail, and a couple of brown striped splotches on his flank).
Sylvie hopped down from her perch on a kitchen chair and approached Skittles, growling at him. He looked rather nonplussed but held his ground. Then Gingy came up from the basement, and seeing Sylvie growling at Skittles, started hissing at him (or her...had to tell who she was growling at!). Skittles wandered off to explore the rest of the house, the females trailing him. All of a sudden Louie went flashing past me (he'd been sound asleep on the couch, moments earlier) and confronted Skittles in the study. Skittles put his nose out and Louie gave him a nose kissy. Skittle reacted to this overture in a funny way...he hopped up on my study chair and tried to swipe at Louie from there! in fact, he swiped so hard he fell off the chair, practically landing on Louie, who was quite calm about the whole thing!
Skittles ended up in the living room, with Louie on one side of him and Fuzzy cautiously approaching him from the other. Fuzzy didn't growl, but his body language wasn't real friendly either. At last Skittles ended up back in the kitchen and meowed pitifully at the back door to go back out (he had stopped and sniffed the food bowls, and was getting ready to drink some water, when he appeared to think better of it). As soon as i let him out he dashed off the back steps and pounced on some leaves, letting off tension, i'm sure.
Skittles wasn't hanging around when i got back from doing my errands. I tried the phone numbers again with no luck. I did reverse lookup on one phone number and got an address over on the next street, so i stopped there last night on the way home from work. No one answered the door, finally a boy about 14-years old with long hair and carrying an electric guitar came to the door, with 2 or 3 younger brothers clustering around behind him. I asked him if they have a small cat...at that very moment, i heard a familiar meow, and Skittles came out of the shadows, rubbed against my ankles, and dashed into the house. The boy with the guitar picked him up, cradling him on his back, Skittles put his paw on the boy's nose...well that answered that question! I told them i had been afraid Skittles was a stray or abandoned since i live over on the next block and saw him wandering around, the boys just looked at me as if i'd grown another head.
I really didn't get any conversation from the boys except that one phone had been disconnected and the other one didn't have any minutes on it. I'll keep an eye out for Skittles in the future...but don't think we need to offer him a home anytime soon. Sylvie, Gingy, Fuzzy, and Louie are all breathing sighs of relief!
Here's Skittles looking a little tense...Louie is approaching him on the right and Fuzzy is approaching him on the left.
Awwww, I don't know if Skittles has such a great home if they let him out to wander...
ReplyDeleteWow! What a fantastic story, Nan! Aw, little Skittles - I hope they look after him, he sounds so cute! Hope you're feeling better, it's 'that' time of year, isn't it, for bugs and things yuk!
ReplyDeleteWhoops! Sorry, I meant QC!
ReplyDeleteDoh!
At least he has a home. Hopefully that will teach those boys to take better care of him!!
ReplyDeletePurrs Goldie, Shade and Banshee
I agree, at least Skittles has a home although I hope they take good care of him. There doesn't sem much point having a number on his collar if it is disconnected - what if he really does get lost? Poor little mite.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading about the kitties reactions to Skittles.
Well that's a lovely ending. I'm glad Skittles has a home nearby, I hope they put a number on his collar that doesn't rely on credits! Louie was being very hospitable giving Skittles a nose kiss there. Very sweet.
ReplyDeleteWhicky Wuudler
What a story! Sure hope Skittles' family looks after him better from now on. At least if you see him again, you'll know his situation. Cats seems to have a way to seek out the family they wish to live with. Your story may not be over!
ReplyDeleteGlad you're feeling better!
Nan
Ups, we hadn't commented yet?! We thought we had! We liked how you cared about the possible left-behind one and how it turned out that he wasn't left behind!
ReplyDeletePoor Sylvie! Now Chilli wants to offer her the other extra fang. She says she doesn't need a spare one if a furriend is in need. So, if she doesn't swallow it you might find a bloody teeth in your mail box soon. ; ) Isn't Chilli nice? Hahahaa!
Purrs, Siena
It's interesting that you all picked up that i wasn't entirely sure about the level of care his family is giving to Skittles! Siena, that's very nice of Chilli to offer her other extra fang to Sylvie...but Sylvie says really, she's fine with one fang and her many claws!
ReplyDelete