When our neighbor, 3 doors down, moved out suddenly they left cats behind. There were some serious problems in their family and I honestly believe they were doing the best they could.  They left 4 large bags of cat food open on the floor. A hole was cut in one of the windows which the cats used to enter and exit. But the cat food ran out about 2 months later  and that's when they migrated down to my house.

 

One of the cats was Mr. Burns.  an extremely large gentle old tabby.  There was also a pregnant calico named Snickers. A month later Snickers had 5 kittens. We already had a dog and 2 house cats, so we were up to 10 animals.  We knew we couldn't handle that many pets so began to find homes for them. 

 

I placed an ad in the paper stating, "free cats".  The first call was from a very nice lady who lived in a small town 5 miles away.  She wanted a "big old cat that would just lay around and be lazy".  I had the perfect cat for her!  Mr. Burns was the perfect fit.  He did everything slowly.  he walked slow, he laid down slow, even his purr was slow and steady. She came to have a look and was instantly smitten.  I was very happy that Mr. Burns found such a loving family to adopt him.  I would miss him, but I knew it was for the best. She borrowed my pet carrier and took away loveable old Mr. Burns. Two days later she dropped the carrier off at my husband's office and we put the whole thing behind us. That is until 3 days later, I came home from work one day and there was Mr. Burns, lazily sitting on my front porch. He travelled 5 miles crossing a major freeway.  I was very surprised and happy to see him and decided it was meant to be.  He needed to be our pet.

 

After finding homes for all but one of the kittens we thought it best to give away Snickers, the calico mommy cat. Snickers was a very temperamental kitty.  She loved people to pet and hold her, but turned threatening and vicious if any other animal was in sight. More than once she has chased my dog across the yard. She really needed to be the only animal in the house. I put a notice in the newsletter where I work. The next day one of the professors came to ask about the cat.  I told him this cat was kind of bi-polar and needed to be an only cat.  He assured me that his wife really wanted another cat and that they would like to try giving it a home.  I told them they could take it on a trial basis, but if it didn't work out they could bring it back. He took Snickers to his home 3 miles west of where we live.

 

Every couple of days I would get an update.  "Your cat sure doesn't like other cats around, but we'd like to try it for a few more days", and "Your cat wandered over to the neighbors house when they had a barbecue out back and they loved him!", and "your cat keeps crossing the road, I'm afraid it's going to be hit by a car."  This went on for about 4 weeks.  I heard about his food choices, his preferred sleeping arrangements, and his continued lack of socialization with the other cats. 

 

One day the professor said, "I haven't seen your cat for a few days."  I thought she must have either been hit by a car or found a nice home without any kitty competition.  I preferred to think she was happily adopted by a lonely petless elderly couple who were doting on her and giving her all the attention and warmth she craved.  I thought that this chapter was now closed and I could concentrate on my remaining pets.  About a week passed.  I came home late one afternoon exhausted after a very emotionally trying week.  As I pulled up to the garage I thought I was hallucinating.  Snickers came running out of the garage toward me. She was pretty skinny and dirty, but really happy to see me.

 

She had to cross two highways, a river, and brave below freezing weather and a snow storm.  I don't know how she did it. 

 

My dog, Oscar, followed some neighbor dogs into the back yard last year and got lost for two days. Our property is about 5 acres, but that's still pretty sad that he couldn't find his way home.  I guess cats are just better at direction than dogs are, at least than MY dog is.

I guess that’s why the phrase “cats rule and dogs drool” came to be.  But I guess I can put up with some drool and barking and chasing around the house after the cats and  chewing up the cell phone and begging from the table and slobbing on the kittens ears and….. I guess I still like my mentally challenged dog the best.