The way that we "acquired" those cats is a story. A while back, the guy who lived next door at the time was letting a pair of teen-aged lesbians crash in and probably work out of his house. (Sheila literally chased the next girl that stayed there out of the neighborhood when she began working the corner in front of our house.) This pair had a newborn baby with them and a pair of identical twin orange tabby kittens. Once, they left the baby with their host/landlord with nothing to feed her. The neighbor knocked on my door and told me he was broke, the baby was crying, there was nothing to feed it and he didn't know where the mom's were. I kind of lost it. I went up the street and bought a box of very
expensive formula for the baby and then warned him if he didn't call DHS I was going to. The kinky young beauties were gone within hours never to return BUT they left their twin kittens.
At first the neighbor fed them but soon he went to jail. Then his parents fed them for a while but that eventually stopped. We pestered everyone we met trying to find them a home to no avail. In the meanwhile, I used them for moving target airsoft practice in the back yard to encourage them to find another home in somebody else's yard. Before you animal lovers go nuts about the airsoft practice be advised I used a low velocity, spring powered pistol that modern kids regularly shoot each other with. It just stings a little. No permanent damage.
I couldn't figure out why the cats didn't move on until I caught Sheila feeding them on the sly. I demanded she stop. I might as well have saved my breath. She just did it anyway. It's me and Rodney Dangerfield all the way on some issues with Sheila .... like feeding stray animals. I soon had to lock up our cat door to prevent our one cat house from becoming a three cat smellathon. Soon, they spent a lot of time begging for food or entrance at the cat door. I ignored them. But, the fact that it was VERY cold last night and I didn't want to try to recover a dead cat carcass from somewhere deep in our stored furniture convinced me temporarily call a truce.
Ironically, the truce may have accomplished all that I wanted. Once they were in the house last night, I locked the cat door to keep them in. They tried to escape multiple times and I just ignored them. When one sneaked up on to the bed, I shot my empty airsoft pistol in his general direction. This one makes a LOUD pop from the CO2. He disappeared instantly. Today, they are no place to be seen. I haven't heard a peep out of them. I've left the cat door unlocked all day and haven't seen hide nor hair of them. Maybe one night in the house was enough. Who knows? But stop and think about this. What other neighborhood can you imagine where someone as boringly normal as Sheila and I would be recounting a tale like this?
At first the neighbor fed them but soon he went to jail. Then his parents fed them for a while but that eventually stopped. We pestered everyone we met trying to find them a home to no avail. In the meanwhile, I used them for moving target airsoft practice in the back yard to encourage them to find another home in somebody else's yard. Before you animal lovers go nuts about the airsoft practice be advised I used a low velocity, spring powered pistol that modern kids regularly shoot each other with. It just stings a little. No permanent damage.
I couldn't figure out why the cats didn't move on until I caught Sheila feeding them on the sly. I demanded she stop. I might as well have saved my breath. She just did it anyway. It's me and Rodney Dangerfield all the way on some issues with Sheila .... like feeding stray animals. I soon had to lock up our cat door to prevent our one cat house from becoming a three cat smellathon. Soon, they spent a lot of time begging for food or entrance at the cat door. I ignored them. But, the fact that it was VERY cold last night and I didn't want to try to recover a dead cat carcass from somewhere deep in our stored furniture convinced me temporarily call a truce.
Ironically, the truce may have accomplished all that I wanted. Once they were in the house last night, I locked the cat door to keep them in. They tried to escape multiple times and I just ignored them. When one sneaked up on to the bed, I shot my empty airsoft pistol in his general direction. This one makes a LOUD pop from the CO2. He disappeared instantly. Today, they are no place to be seen. I haven't heard a peep out of them. I've left the cat door unlocked all day and haven't seen hide nor hair of them. Maybe one night in the house was enough. Who knows? But stop and think about this. What other neighborhood can you imagine where someone as boringly normal as Sheila and I would be recounting a tale like this?
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A postcript. They were back as soon as Sheila came home from work this evening. They shot in the front door as soon as she opened it. They know who their friends are I guess.
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