Cat Tales :: Part 1

Last Wednesday night, I took my puppy outside and heard a very distinct "meow" sound... uggh another cat/kitten got dumped. This has happened before. Twice actually. And I am NOT a cat person. I live in the country next to a creek so apparently people think its the perfect spot to drop of their unwanted animals. These people are wrong.
First it was a fully grown cat that apparently used to be a house cat. Whenever I opened the door - garage or house - it would try and sneak inside. SO not okay with me. A "neighbor" several miles tried to take it in. Two days later, it founds it's way back to my front porch. The neighbor was no longer interested in keeping this wandering cat so it went to the shelter. I honestly hope it found a nice home somewhere.
Then this past winter, we were outside playing with the dogs and heard a meow from the creek. A little while later a kitten wandered out. Not having a clue what to do (I have zero experience with cats beyond disliking them immensely), I called my aunt Flora and cousin Jamie (they love cats). They gave me some suggestions most of which I followed (I did not agree to bring the cat into my house though). Unfortunately the kitten got run over by a car the next day and I truly felt bad for the thing.

We have been (dumped) animal free for several months now. That is, until Wednesday night. Anyway, Mackie (the puppy) and I headed outside so she could go potty and I head a LOUD meow. Constantly. In fact, I am pretty sure I heard it inside my house before I went outside. Anyway, not being a cat person and being home alone at the moment, I grabbed a flashlight and golf club (not to hit it, to move the bushes if necessary), and followed the sound to my flower bed. The cat of unknown size, orgin and meanness was completely hidden inside a bush. I could not see it and to be honest, I was too scared to move the bush with my hand to really see it. Thankfully my knight in shining honor (i.e. the husband) pulled into the drive way just in time to save the day.
He was able to spot the cat and confirm that the scary mean cat was in fact a tiny kitten. He tried to grab it and it darted to another bush. I kind of tried to corner it but was still a little scared of touching the feisty and fast creature so it ran past me under the BBQ grill (it has a cabinet on the bottom that is about 3 inches from the ground). We couldn't get it out (and there was NO way that I would stick my hand in there to get scratch or whatever else cats do to people), so the humanitarian in me filled an old bowl with milk and a piece of bread and left it for the kitten. The next morning the bread was missing, the milk was mostly still there and the kitten was no where to be found. My thinking was as least we filled its stomach for its next leg of the journey (assuming that journey led it to a different house).
My assumption was a bit early... tune in tomorrow for cat tales part 2 of this __?__ part series... but in the meantime, what kind of bad experiences have you had with cats, strays or other unknown creatures?  Are you a cat person?