One day over the summer, I had a strong feeling that the Cat Distribution System had me in its sights. I found myself watching the sides of the road carefully as I drove, but no kittens appeared. That evening, I mowed my lawn and when I went to put the mower in the shed, there was a small black cat sitting calmly next to it.
I assumed she had discovered the spot where I sometimes throw food waste over the fence for the raccoons and possums, so I went in and got her a bowl of kibble. She ate eagerly and even let me pet her, although she was pretty quick to swipe at me with her claws extended.
This was obviously my assigned cat.
I decided to lure her into the basement with canned food. I'd been seeing another cat her size in the yard, and I feel strongly about trapping feral cats to get them spayed and neutered to keep those numbers from ballooning.
Within the next few weeks, she stayed in the basement except when she went to be vaccinated and spayed. The vet estimated her age at around 8 months, which was older than I would have assumed. She's quite tiny except that she's getting a bit of a tummy from having food available on demand.
At one point she bit my hand and I had to take two different antibiotics for a week. But she got used to being handled, healed quickly from her surgery, and met the dog with good results. Then it was time to start introducing her to the other cats.
That...isn't going well. I say that in the present tense because we've been at it for many weeks now and she still wakes up and chooses violence every day. She has clearly decided, much like the Highlander, that there can be only one cat. And it should be her. Unfortunately, the other three cats disagree.
Our current tactic is to put her in her cat condo cage in the middle of the living room for an hour or so every day to let the other cats interact with her without getting a beatdown. Yes, she will go after even the largest cat we have and corner him wherever he goes.
We haven't given up, but I'd be lying if I said I haven't been trying to find someone else to take her. I mean, she's already spayed, vaccinated and dewormed and she probably won't bite you. What's not to like?
The best evidence that she may not end up staying is the fact that we haven't been able to get a name to stick. The vet has her listed as TBD and one of her temporary names is on her spay paperwork, but I have a feeling she may end up somewhere else unless she can tone down the attitude and make friends. I guess we'll see what happens!
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