Monday, October 22, 2007

The gods must really want me to have an eleventh cat.

After it turned out that Blue Eyed Brownie had a home, I felt quite relieved; eight cats plus two who stop by regularly for food is enough! Then this afternoon I heard children's voices shouting, "Miss Jane! Miss Jane!" I went outside and found three of the neighborhood girls pointing at a cat on my porch. "That your cat?" they asked. At first I said yes - as it was a calico tabby that looked just like Alley Cat. Then I realized that it was wearing a flea collar, which none of mine do. I'd actually seen it around recently, but figured that with the flea collar, it must have a home nearby. I told the girls it wasn't my cat and they said, "Oh. We thought it was yours. It's got a broke foot and was in the street crying." Sure enough Alley Cat's doppelganger had a swollen front paw which she was holding up off the ground. I figured I should bring her inside. She seemed very thin, and when I gave her some food, she inhaled more at one go than Daddy Cat does (which is a LOT, believe me). I took off the flea collar, as it seemed really tight - as if someone had put it on her when she was smaller and never bothered to adjust it as she grew - and Advantaged her. She seems about the same size as Blue Eyed Brownie; I wonder if perhaps they're from the same litter? I'll try and take her to the vet about her foot tomorrow. Right now she's curled up on my lap, purring away.

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If you look closely at the paw in the foreground, you can see that there's a big welt on top of it. It's also swollen about twice the size of the other front foot.

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