We have neighbours who feed the feral cats in our neighbourhood. They give them names and such. For the first three years we lived here, a cat they fed used to just come into our yard and stare at us, or at the house in general, four hours and hours. He was a handsome brown tabby fellow, with a white chest and tummy, and absolutely no interest in human attention. He would be in our yard, just sitting there, almost every time we looked out. I liked to say that he used to "own" our lot back when it was an abandoned lot before our house was built on it. Before we knew his name he was "the cat who owns our yard" and after our neighbours explained the situation and told us his name he became "Toby: the cat who owns our yard." Last fall, a litter of about 8-9 kittens appeared on our yard - all were brown tabby kittens. Toby was around, as was a scruffy female tabby. It was horrifyingly cute to see these kittens just laying on our front yard, with mom and dad and a few other random cats around, there was one day where I counted 15 cats on our front lawn. After a while we didn't see the kittens anymore, and the Humane Society had an ad in the paper to adopt tabby kittens (with photos!) each named after our street, with a number following. Toby was still around at that point, and for some reason, he came up to me and let me pet him twice. The first time, I was confused as to why he was walking toward me, at eye level, across my neighbours fence. The next time was a few days later, and he just came straight for me as I walked down the side walk. Maybe he missed them. Toby disappeared this winter, and we've never seen him again - gone the way of many a feral cat in the cold winter months. But this spring, a "teen" cat appeared: brown tabby with a slight tuft of white on his chest. At first glance I thought it was Toby, but no... he'd too young. I've dubbed him "Son of Toby" and he seems to have taken to lounging on our front step. He's people-shy, just like his dad, and sometimes I see him following around that ratty female tabby who must be his mom.
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Topic: I miss my cat. (Read 13275 times)