Chancelucky

Friday, September 02, 2005

Another Involuntary Cat Sequel


Phoebe the cat ran off for was it the third or fourth time right around July 4th. Since then, we haven't been sure if she had died, gone feral, or simply found a house she liked better. It would figure that in th midst of the biggest refugee catastrophe yet(maybe that's why they call it a "cat4" hurricane) we would get a call once again thanks to the chip implanted in the back of her neck.
"We've discovered that we have your cat. We love your cat. My husband's been sick and the cat's been giving us a great deal of pleasure. Would you consider letting us keep your cat?"

"You mean the cat actually doesn't run away from you?..."

a few moments of silence and very little thought on my wife's part.

"No, please if she has a good home there, we don't have to have her back."

So there it is, our voluntary cat who each time ran off in a different compass direction from our house finally got the message through to us that she didn't consider herself "our" cat.

In the meantime, we had to take one of the cats who liked our household to the vet today to be put down.

Bear with me in this segue. I haven't yet figured out how to contribute to helping those left behind by Katrina. Money is the obvious answer, but then I say "Red Cross" and I hear any number of objections to some things Red Cross has done in these situations. I then learn that one of FEMA's designated charities for the disaster is actually administered by Pat "The Hitman" Robertson.

At a much more personal level, I've been tossing around the idea of offering to take a family in for a bit, should anyone send them out to California. I found one website trying to set up matches and it repeated all my basest fears about what might happen or could happen with its disclaimer language.

If my heart is open to helping these victims of Katrina, why does it close up so quiclkly when I start thinking about what and how much to do? I've committed myself to doing something though by week's end, which makes me not a whole lot different from the President. The difference, I guess, though is that I'm not the president. Should I really wonder why Phoebe the cat didn't want to stay with us? :{ And is it strange that people so readily take in homeless cats, but the prospect of taking in a homeless family seems so dangerous?

4 Comments:

At 9/03/2005 03:26:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Daggone it, chancelucky, just when I thought, like some ancient oak, I might be growing a ring of compassion, you have to bring up cats, my only weakness. Cats are all preferable to all people. I am besotted with my two purrfections.

There are several things one cannot go back on. One is once you're a bittersweet chocolate person, there's no going back to the oversweet and all-but-chocolateless milk chocolate. And once you've had Burmese cats, the pound ain't possible no more.

//That rotter Pat 'The Assassinator' Robertson is scamming on this hurricane, & I was furious until I saw that a major contract had gone to Hailliburton which trumps (ahem) even that Evangelist, that Evil's agent(anagram from yogaartnat on pogblog) Robertson the Bilious.

Check if Oxfam is doing relief. They have an impeccable reputation.

 
At 9/03/2005 08:39:00 AM, Blogger Chancelucky said...

I'm thinking habitat for humanity maybe. Also working on keeping my heart open even should Phoebe reappear.

 
At 9/08/2005 01:07:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

C.L.
have you considered that Phoebe is simply a sly hunter, hanging out near the gym looking for rats, albeit gym rats? Perhaps the daily commute from your pad to the gym is too much, so in order to be closer to the "office" she has chosen new quarters.
Hope you don't her rejection purrsonally. She's practical. Smart cat.

 
At 9/08/2005 08:27:00 PM, Blogger Chancelucky said...

Well,
some of those gym rats are probably much meatier than conventional rats. It's more than a little possible. Once in a while when she lived with us, she would run fast breaks in our hallway and it did occur to me that I never could get the timing right with the outlet pass to her cat box.

 

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