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Cat and Squirrel
How a stray cat learned to play with her food
My husband spotted her first. He’d just finished allergy treatments. So when the stray cat wandered up and meowed, he decided to pet her as a test. Then he rubbed his eyes. No allergic reaction. The treatment had worked.
I saw the cat a few days later. I thought she was a half grown kitten because she was so tiny. She was friendly and cute, a ball of fluff that looked hungry. So I fed her. Suddenly she became a daily visitor. Funny how that works.
We weren’t sure we wanted a pet. She convinced us that we did. But we didn’t know if she belonged to someone else. We didn’t want to steal a neighbor’s cat. So we compromised.
The house was off limits, but the sun room was not. We named her Snoopy, because she was so curious, and got an old towel for her. We folded it into a soft pad for her to sleep on, with a water bowl beside it. I bought some dry kitten food that I put into a second bowl. I filled both each morning before I went to work. I also give her fresh meat or cream in the evenings, when I saw her. She appreciated my gifts.
She decided to return the favor.
She started to bring me her kills.
She was a good hunter. She’d had to be. She’d been on her own for a while, and, as we later…
