Cat House is full

To say our house is full is a drastic understatement—but it's absolutely true. We are filled to the max with cats. We have no more room for cat beds, toys, towers, litter boxes, and feeding spaces. Cats, despite being so small, take up a decent amount of room. Well, maybe it's just my cats that do. From preferred litter box locations to needing a certain spot for water/food and the right amount of space to snooze and play. Our house is big enough—and would be even bigger minus all the cat necessities they think they need (and I more than happily provide!)

As I was doing my usual routine of scooping litter, sweeping floors, spraying some Odo-Ban to help keep things fresh between washes, I noticed Roughy getting wound up. What could he be getting so wound up for? He's in his favorite space—the sun porch! None of the other cats are bothering him. Rather, none of the indoor cats are. What is bothering him? An orange and white cat is sitting on the step outside of the sun porch and hitting the window right where Roughy is sitting. So for a good 10 minutes, they are playing hit the window. Being dark out, it was hard to notice that there was a cat outside—until his face is pressed up against the window and Roughy starts "talking." He's worked up, and it's hard to say if it's "Hey, I want to be friends," or if it's more along the lines of "Get out of my territory."

Like the crazy lady I am, I'm talking back to Roughy. Surprise, surprise... I know. Telling him that it's okay, the house is full, that kid is not coming inside. He is only an outside cat. The house is full, so even if we wanted to, we can't bring him in right now. Roughy keeps talking back, so we carried that on for the next 10 minutes or so. Yep - I sound absolutely crazy. Meanwhile, I tell Gene that if Roughy starts acting wild or peeing places, it's because there's a cat outside tormenting him.

Is this the first cat to come calling at our doorstep? Nope. Will it be the last? Nope. In fact, there are currently 2 cats that come to our doors. One is orange and white—and clearly has some spice. The other is a tiger stripe with white. The tiger stripe had all the kittens wound up because he was sitting at the front door. I was made aware of this cat - courtesy of Gene. He said you have to come see this... Is that one of our cats outside? I don't think it is, but it could be.

In my head I'm like - if it's not, it's about to be! If I open this door and I can pick the cat up or it walks into the house, it's now our cat. Fortunately for Gene (and reluctantly, me), the cat ran across the street instead of into the house. It truly looks like one of our cats that is inside, and with so many looking the same and so many hiding places, we do question when they show up outside.

Stray cats seem to instinctively know which houses are safe, gravitating towards ours for food, water, or shelter. They sit at our door, ignoring neighbors, perhaps guided by a silent code from our indoor cats indicating we're a welcoming home.

Sadly, our house is full; otherwise, I would be taking in ALL the strays that come into our yard. It pains me to know that there are so many cats in need, and nowhere has space for them or the ability to help them. Please do your part: keep your pets inside, get them spayed/neutered, and help TNR when you can. The stray population is out of control and feels like it always will be.

So - roughly - sorry to say your new bestie or enemy will be staying outside for the time being. Unless you and he can convince Gene to let him in.

As I finish writing this post, there is now a third new cat hanging around—a beautiful calico. As Gene says, NO MORE CATS, they have to stay outside and no more reproducing!

Till our tails cross again,

Mel

#lovecatsandeverything #straycats #orangecats #spiceoflife #fullhouse