Loving Stray Cats

THE STRAY CAT ISSUE - and yes, it is an "issue", to use one of our currently favorite words, because it is a situation which demands some response or other from us - is a difficult one for us who love cats. We cat lovers would like to see every cat in the world curled up asleep in the loving arms of a human benefactor who feeds and cares for it. In American alone, there may be as many as thirty or forty million strays, to go with our as many as eighty million "owned cats". Cats, which originate in Africa like the rest of us, have, like humans, taken over the entire world, and there are stray populations nearly everywhere. They are quite popular in Rome, where you see many cats, but few if any rodents. The most difficult part is when some cute friendly stray cate decides it wants to live with you. Then, it becomes your issue. So far its happened tome four times, with a fifth looking to join our family. Twelve years ago I bought land and built a lovely home, which I intended to keep spot free forever. Instead, I have three indoor cats, all of which came to me stray, wild, feral. I cat whispered them into being tame, and now, they are irredeemably spoiled. The only way to prevent this is to chase them out of your yard, early on, which I will not do. I start out by ignoring them, which inspires them to think of me as malleable, usable. In this they are quite correct. I cannot allow a cat to go hungry. it comforts me to know that they tend to be pretty good at foraging on their own, in either urban or rural area. Local animal shelters are starting, I understand, to adopt a "no kill" policy for stray animals. Id only we could spay, neuter, and vaccinate the stray population, and adopt it out to good people. ON the other hand, it may well be that a thriving population of stray cats is part and parcel, evolutionarily, of human society, along with, lest we omit their mention, rats. My heart still goes out to stray cate, because I know how loving and affectionate they can be, but maybe I needn't worry. Maybe they prefer it that way, maybe they don't know any other life, wouldn't have any other life. maybe everything is just fine the way it is. Just to be on the safe side, however, it would be nice if each of us could, at least once, do something nice for some stray cat.