For awhile when we first moved here we were the resident Doolittles of the 300 block of Gonzalez Drive. With two semi-large dogs and one cat we were in violation of our complex's limit of pets by one animal. But our cat has been so low maintenance lately that in our minds we are compliant.
I say he has been low maintenance lately to suggest that it has not always been that way. After we had our darling kitty for at least a year we made the mistake of letting him spend some time outside. At which point he realized that outside was much much cooler than inside. It got to the point where he was outside for the majority of the afternoon and would only come back at dusk. I'm not sure what he was doing that whole time but to feel like a better mother I like to think that he was out delivering meals to homeless cats.
But there came a point when his preference for the outdoors became a hindrance. If he didn't come home by the time we went to bed, he slept outside. Occasionally when we wanted to take a weekend trip to Pat's, we would be delayed by our cat's daily adventure because we didn't want him to have to stay outside for too long at one time. And then of course he was outside for two weeks straight when we were in Europe and when I got home and got him inside I said NO MY LITTLE FELINE FRIEND. NO MORE OUTSIDE FOR YOU.
The Doolittle title was passed on to a young couple that initially moved in to their one bedroom apartment with two cats - two doors down from us. The new Doolittle's were TOTAL cat people. After being here for several months they bought a puppy and then shortly thereafter yet another dog. Their cats began spending all day every day outside and would rarely go inside. They hunted rats and had fleas and were generally thought of as "outdoor cats". But they were exceptionally friendly and cute.
So when Mr Doolittle told Jon that they would be moving by the end of November it took several minutes before Jon realized what their plans for the cats were. They said that the girl cat was going to get dropped off at the animal shelter and that the boy cat needed to be put to sleep because he was sick. This diagnosis was not based on so much as a Google search, and it definitely struck Jon and I as a totally irresponsible quick-fix. We gave the cat a de-worming pill and his owners said he was miraculously cured.
Jon asked his mom if she might want to adopt two nice cats for the farm and she said YES!
So of the (what seems like) million things we did this last Thanksgiving weekend, Rescuing our neighbor's cats is one of them...We put the cats in our car and met Pat in Orinda on Sunday afternoon. She took them to her farm and I think it's safe to say that they ended up in a better place than they could have ever hoped for!
