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| Wu - Chi marker in the Eaton Cemetery for a dog! |
Well this has been a tough week; I finally caught the little
sight-impaired cat that has been living in my attic for three years. The cat came in with another Siamese cat who was
very elderly and died in the attic, which is how I found out that they were
there.
I could never get close to her she just seemed to stare out
at sounds and finally I realized that she could not really see. When I called KIT-TEN she learned that food
was being brought to her.
So I took the time to insulate the attic area she used that
has a window and heat from the woodstove located in the kitchen below. I tried unsuccessfully to get her to come
closer… but no dice. I had someone who
would have adopted her …but she wouldn’t come to us.
She made friends that year with the old stray the neighbors
called Curly, and for two years they lived in the attic together in the winter
and she would come down and sit with him on the porch in the summer… unless
something approached and then it was up the stairs to the attic room.
To get there she had to jump through a missing windowpane,
up the stairs and through another little cut out in the door. For me to get there however, I had to go out
the kitchen door, through the side yard to the garage doors, and up the stairs
to her abode.
Each night I brought her (them) food, water and each time
she would hide in the corner and wait until she heard me close the door and my
foot hit the step, only then would she come out to eat.
Old Curly had to be put to sleep last year in the terrible
hot summer…a truly aged and wise cat who had found a good retirement home in my
attic.
Then this horrible long winter came and Kitten never came
downstairs. She used the little box I
put up there for her and appeared to love laying in the basket next to the
little ”safe” electric heater I installed.
Then I noticed she got diarrhea.
I tried to catch her but could not, until I guess she finally knew she
was in trouble.
This week she came down to the porch on her own to beg for
food. After two failed attempts at
catching her, I finally got her, and took her to the vets. Unfortunately it was too late.
And so the little stow-a-way in the attic…is gone. This cat had been someone’s cat -she was fixed.
I assumed the two cats that had come in
together were strays lost by summer people or…worse yet… dumped by someone
where they had belonged to an old lady or man who was taken to a nursing
home. Yes, the friend or family says
they will take care of them...but they don’t.
They just put them out with some food down and by winter they are
helpless and hopeless. It happens a lot
down here.
Wish people would understand that old cats don’t become
feral after living indoors all their life…especially after being spoiled by
their owners.
So the attic is empty and this year I won’t have to worry
about keeping the heat up for the upstairs cat and going out at 20 below to
make the climb to the second floor attic room with food… I have boarded it
up…the last occupant has left the “attic bed and breakfast.”
I have to admit it though ...I feel terrible about her
passing.
