Kitty Kat

No we don't have one. I'm allergic to 99% of cats and Brandon keeps reminding me that in this stage of life, he is only willing to commit to 15% of the overall maintenance of having a pet. How would you even quantify that anyway? Do all pet tasks hold the same weight? I'm not pushing for definitions because I don't really want a pet either, but still, what does 15% actually mean?

However, there is this little kitty cat begging to be adopted. We frequently see it sleeping outside our apartment door, sleeping on the steps leading up to our apartment, circling the trash can in the parking lot near our cars. We see this little kitty cat so much that Brandon and I have started fighting over whose cat it is. Example:

(Upon pulling up to our apartment)
"Oh look, there's my cat."
"That's not your cat, that's my cat."
"Na-uh, I already named it Delilah."
"Delilah? You cannot name my cat Delilah."
"Yes-huh, after the radio show. We both love that show and you know it. Perfect name for a cat. Perfect name for my cat, I mean."
"Whatever. It is my cat and its name is not Delilah."

And so the conversations go.

Lately though, this little kitty cat no longer dashes away when it sees us. It still won't let me pet it or get too close, but it now just backs up a few steps and stares at me. The other morning when I left for my walk in the 95 degree misery, it even followed me for a bit! Also, I think it even pooped on our doorstep. A secret: I haven't cleaned it up yet. Yeah, there is a little turd drying up in our arid climate, gathering dust from the occasional monsoon winds. That's kind of embarrassing, but I don't really want to touch it or get cat poop on our dust pan, plus it would be rude if I kicked it off our balcony onto our downstairs neighbor's stoop. I'm stuck, see.

So, what do we do? This cat could be struggling in the tough Tucson conditions and one day we might find it dead on our doorstep from dehydration and starvation. I could never forgive myself.

What happens if we feed it though? You know, if you give a mouse a cookie it will ask for glass a milk so does that mean if you give a cat some food it will start demanding command of the remote control and want the whole top shelf of our refrigerator for dead mice and catnip? What if I have to tell it: "No kitty cat/Delilah. Snack Pack Puddings and Sprite Zeros go on the top shelf, not dead mice." Will it kill me in my sleep?

I'm going to stew about this for another week or so and if I still see my cat around, then maybe I'll put a bowl of water out there to see what happens and...then we'll just go from there.

Maybe the little kitty cat is this kind of cat:

That wouldn't be so bad would it?