FIX YOUR CATS (AND KEVIN FEDERLINE)

(Note on photo: Dot is neurotic. She just went crazy one day and began to hiss and carry on. The other cats don't know what to make of her. I had to get Dot her own stinky box, otherwise she'd just go on the kitchen mats. She will not leave the kitchen any more.)

(Note: This squirrel would jump at the window and slide down if I did not notice her to get my attention. There used to be a lot of them and I am sure the redneck behind me killed them as he had a pellet gun. I would hear the idiot firing it all the time, along with the chain saw he would sometimes start up at 0300 in the morning. I kid you not. Others have vibrators. I think he used his chainsaw. Anyways, all the squirrels were just gone one day. This one used to come up to me when I sat outside and read as I had the peanut bag beside me. The neighbours always give me the stink eye as I feed the strays, the squirrels and the birds.)

This orange Tom is totally feral. I've been feeding him for years. The poor old guy only has one eye which limits his ability to defend himself and has garnered him some nasty wounds. Only a while ago he had an ugly, festering infection on the side of his neck. I did not think he would make it this time. It has not limited his ability to reproduce.

One of the black cats in the photo is an old girl-friend of his. I had caught her after she had five kittens. All were females. I got them when they were small enough that they could be tamed and they found a home. The two previous kittens were too feral to be adopted. I got stuck with them. One is the grey one and the other is the exotic looking black one, who is handsome but a handful. The vet told me a sad story of an older woman that had passed away. She had taken in a number of feral kittens that responded well to her. When she died they tried to place the animals with other people but it did not work out and all of the cats had to be put down. These two cats are almost a year old now. With me they are loving, although they run around more than most cats. With others, they take off. I know that if something happened to me they would suffer the same fate. I got stuck with the mother cat also. I had paid to get her fixed and had meant to release her, but once her stitches healed, she made no move for the door. She knew a good deal when she saw it. Two of my cats are from a local prison that has a feral cat population. Two cats just showed up at my door; one was only about four months old at the time and showed up in the middle of the night in the winter. It was so hungry that it had been eating grass to survive and had large lumps in his intestines because of the consumption of items that weren't really food. He felt pregnant and had such a bad cold that it was touch and go.

Anyways, I am breaking the law because I am permitted only two cats. They all stay inside and are much loved although they annoy me at times. In the photo they are watching one of the strays outside eating. Unfortunately, I am forced to feed them as the people in this town are cheap. They do not fix them and the common refrain is "oh, they're just barn cats, they can look after themselves."

It breaks my heart. And my pocket book.