Okay, we all know my sob story about the kitty named Blanca or Leo. Now, here's the kicker!
This morning, I was reading some of your very kind and sweet comments and crying a little bit about the nasty fate facing this poor cat. A woman came to the front door with a small child in tow.
I peeked out the window and debated whether or not to answer the door since I wasn't dressed. I figured, screw it, see who it is and opened the door.
Standing there was my neighbor Stacy. I wouldn't call us "friends" but she lives across the street and about 6 houses down and I know her to say hello to.
Stacy said "Robert told me you got bitten by a cat". (Robert is my neighbor across the street.) I replied that I had been bitten and started telling Stacy the saga of the kitty coming to my front door begging for food. She looked at me and said "Was it Ralphie?"
"Stacy, who is Ralphie?" I inquired. Ralphie is her cat who went missing a few days ago. I described the cat to her and she asked quite a few questions which I tried to answer. I told her I had taken the cat to the SPCA to get it neutered if it hadn't been but that the cat was clearly very underweight. She said it sounded like her cat who had been missing for the last week, but that her cat was already neutered.
"Where is my cat now?" she asked me. I told her I had taken him to the Shelter in town, and that he was being held in quarantine for 10 days because of the bites he had given me. She wanted to know why he was in quarantine and I responded that it was the law because of the danger of Rabies. (Stacy responded angrily that Ralphie did not have Rabies and that was ridiculous!) Then she asked did he bite you when you were trying to capture him?
I responded "No, he bit me when I turned to walk away after I fed him." By this time, I realized Stacy was angry as hell that I had interfered with her Ralphie.
Uh, excuse me. You let your cat outside with no identification, no collar or license, he's not chipped, and I haven't the foggiest idea who the cat is. And all this is my fault?
The cat is dirty, skinny, starving, and I'm supposed to guess that he belongs to someone in the neighborhood and just leave him alone?
Stacy was fairly abrupt when she left me. She was very upset that her cat might have been put down already. I understand that I guess. I did assure her that they would have to keep an eye on the cat for 10 days to assure he did not have rabies. So it was unlikely that Ralphie would not be waiting for her at the shelter.
After she left, I remembered that I had photos of the cat on my iphone and so I dressed and took the phone over to Stacy's house so she could try and make a positive identification.
"That's Ralphie!" she cried out! (By this time I knew of course it was fucking Ralphie.) Since Stacy and her hubby seemed more angry at me for my "help" than anything else, I felt kind of stupid over the whole thing.
I have $500 in co-pay charges from the ER visits and that I guess that should be enough to teach me not to get involved with animals who could belong to someone else. But it probably won't.
More than anything else, I'm so glad that this saga has a happy ending for that kitty! In other words, all's well that ends well, right?
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