The Cat that Adopted Two Humans
There’s a big white homeless cat in our neighborhood that has adopted my wife and me as its benefactors.
At first, this cat stayed clear of us as it walked through our yard on its way somewhere else.
He acted as if he was afraid of people, so avoided getting too close to us when we were out in our backyard. He’d scurry away when we’d go in his direction.
Over a period of a few months, he eventually discovered that we were not a threat.
One day we put out some dry cat food and water.
The next time we checked the dry food was gone.
Little by little this cat and we began to trust each other.
We started bringing food out in the early evening.
My wife called him “Jasper.” We’re not sure if he’s a male or female, but “Jasper” seemed to fit.
Then one day we made the fatal mistake… We fed Jasper in the morning too.
He soon expected regular meals and showed up at feeding times.
Then he decided to make our yard its home, and adopt us as its new, proud caretakers.
He sleeps under one of our bushes, and sometimes on one of our many outdoor chairs.
When it’s raining hard, he camps out under our Tiki Hut.
Every day he waits for his meals.
When he sees us coming outside, he immediately scurries over and keeps mewing until we put the food down.
But like our indoor cat, he likes some human contact before eating. We pat him and scratch him under his chin.
Recently he’s become more demanding, wanting to come into our house to check things out.
This we can’t allow because he and our cat hate each other, mock-fighting at our tall glass sliding doors.
Also, we suspect Jasper has an assortment of fleas and other freeloaders on his body.
So what have we learned from Jasper?
Be careful who you feed, for they will adopt you.
Enjoy other creatures, and realize that other creatures will enjoy you as well.
Jasper, by the way, is a handsome cat, mostly white, with a small streak of black like a lightning bolt from the back of his head and pointing down to his back.
He has intelligent light blue eyes.
Sometimes his looks like a serious old scholar as his takes a cat nap on our outside table.
Let’s hope he’s not pregnant.
