Poor little Minnie-girl

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Karen AKA Kajikit - 23 Dec 2005 18:30 GMT

You might remember Minnie, the indoor-outdoor former stray kitty who
lives downstairs from us. She was a stray who was hanging around our
building scrounging food where she could, and one day she walked in
the open door of an apartment with a pair of kittens in her mouth and
said 'we've come to stay!' She made a good choice of home - the lady
who lived there took her in and lets her wander in and out as she
pleases... every now and then we'd see Miss Minnie prowling around the
gardens hunting birds but we knew she had a home. Then last week she
started hanging around our car and meowing plaintively for attention
at the closed door of her home... of course we gave her some lovings
and said hello to her, and after a few days we realised that her
owners cars aren't there any more! I think they've gone away for
christmas and left her outside on the theory that since she was a
stray she can look after herself until they come back :(

Poor little Minnie... she's living under the bush outside their door
waiting for them, and I can tell she's lonely because she keeps
begging for them to let her in :(. I'd like to bring her upstairs to
our apartment but we really can't do that because she wouldn't be
happy stuck inside 24/7 - she's used to her freedom... and Scouty
would HATE having an interloper here to steal my attention away from
her, and mostly because we don't know that she's healthy even though
the French lady said that she was. There's one good thing - at least
we know she's spayed so she won't be having any more kittens! And even
though she's tiny, she's a tough little thing. We went and bought a
bag of kitten kibble just for Minnie and I'm feeding her twice a day
and giving her some lovings. Please purr for them to come back SOON...

I'm not sure what to do now... John says that if they don't come back
before New Years he'll be taking Minnie to the animal shelter, but I
really don't want to do that to her... she'd pine away in a cage :(
Plus I don't want trouble with the neighbours - I just want Miss
Minnie to be safe and loved.

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Helen Miles - 23 Dec 2005 18:38 GMT

> I'm not sure what to do now... John says that if they don't come back
> before New Years he'll be taking Minnie to the animal shelter, but I
> really don't want to do that to her... she'd pine away in a cage :(
> Plus I don't want trouble with the neighbours - I just want Miss
> Minnie to be safe and loved.///

Is there anyway you can bring her in and confine her in one room? If
they are not back in the next few days, I'd certainly be looking for an
alternative placement for her. Irresponsible bastards.

Helen M

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Norm - 23 Dec 2005 18:49 GMT

> You might remember Minnie, the indoor-outdoor former stray kitty who
> lives downstairs from us. She was a stray who was hanging around our
[quoted text clipped - 29 lines]
> Plus I don't want trouble with the neighbours - I just want Miss
> Minnie to be safe and loved.

I hope all turns out right for MM. Remnds me of a pognant sight some
years ago, I was biking through a S Tampa neighborhood and saw a house
with several newspapers lying about the front yard and a forlorn looking
cat sitting on the doorstep, I didn't have a camera round but I looked
for the cat on later trips to provide it with some kibbble. Norm

--
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from
masochism." <AC Clark via me>

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jXwXeXrXmXoXnXt@sonic.net - 23 Dec 2005 18:54 GMT

> I'm not sure what to do now... John says that if they don't come back
> before New Years he'll be taking Minnie to the animal shelter

I think that would be a bad idea. For one thing, what if she doesn't
get adopted from the shelter? She would end up euthanized. And secondly,
even if the woman next door was being irresponsible, I think it would
cause a lot of resentment if you (or rather, John) made that decision
without her consent.

I would try to take care of Minnie as much as possible this time, and
when your neighbor returns, let her know that in the future, she needs
to arrange for Minnie's care when she goes out of town, or next time,
you WILL make that decision for her. But she should be informed first.

She is probably a well-meaning person who doesn't understand that
domestic cats need to be taken care of. Many people don't know this.
I myself used to believe that cats could survive "in nature" and fend
for themselves. And since Minnie was a stray, your neighbor is probably
assuming that Minnie will survive just fine outdoors for the period of
her vacation. It's a very common misconception.

So I'd go for education first, rather taking her cat away. If she
continues to be irresponsible after that, then she probably doesn't
deserve to have a cat, but wait and see.

Joyce

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Dan M - 23 Dec 2005 19:07 GMT

> So I'd go for education first, rather taking her cat away. If she
> continues to be irresponsible after that, then she probably doesn't
> deserve to have a cat, but wait and see.
>
> Joyce

I agree. Could you possibly set up a small shelter for her outside their
door? Maybe something like a cardboard box on it's side with a towel
inside?

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Adrian - 23 Dec 2005 20:16 GMT

A very difficult situation. Purrs for little Minnie.

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ShirleyB - 23 Dec 2005 22:13 GMT

You say Minnie is there, but what about the kittens, have you seen them? Did the
lady adopt them too or find homes for them?

ShirleyB, Rexie and Loki’s Mom
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Karen AKA Kajikit eloquently related the following on 12/23/2005 10:30 AM:

> You might remember Minnie, the indoor-outdoor former stray kitty who
> lives downstairs from us. She was a stray who was hanging around our
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> christmas and left her outside on the theory that since she was a
> stray she can look after herself until they come back :(

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Karen AKA Kajikit - 24 Dec 2005 21:34 GMT

>You say Minnie is there, but what about the kittens, have you seen them? Did the
>lady adopt them too or find homes for them?

She couldn't find private homes for the kittens so she took them to
the animal shelter when they were about twelve weeks old, and I hope
the shelter adopted them out... she was very upset about having to do
it but she said she really couldn't have three cats! So there aren't
any kittens to worry about now, just little Miss Minnie.

We're not the only people feeding her either... somebody gave her a
ceramic dish of gooshyfood the other day and she gobbled it all up (I
just saw the empty dish) and when I took her her dinner today the dish
was filled up again. Only she didn't like what was in it - she kicked
soil over it to bury it!

The other good thing is that we live in Florida... even though it's
winter and 'cold' it's only getting down to about 50 at night and the
weather's dry and lovely during the daytime. So there's no rain or
snow for her to deal with, and she's not going to freeze to death.

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~Karen aka Kajikit
Crafts, cats, and chocolate - the three essentials of life
http://www.kajikitscorner.com
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Jo Firey - 25 Dec 2005 03:14 GMT

>>You say Minnie is there, but what about the kittens, have you seen them?
>>Did the
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> weather's dry and lovely during the daytime. So there's no rain or
> snow for her to deal with, and she's not going to freeze to death.

Sounds like the weather here right now. It was a really nice day and will
only get into the 50's tonight. It will be really hard to get the cats in.
Heck, if I were a cat I wouldn't want to come in tonight either.

Jo

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polonca12000 - 23 Dec 2005 22:16 GMT

Poor kitty! Thank you for taking such good care of her.
Best wishes,
Polonca and Soncek

> You might remember Minnie, the indoor-outdoor former stray kitty who
> lives downstairs from us. <snip> We went and bought a
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> Plus I don't want trouble with the neighbours - I just want Miss
> Minnie to be safe and loved.

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Enfilade - 24 Dec 2005 01:48 GMT

> You might remember Minnie, the indoor-outdoor former stray kitty who
> lives downstairs from us.

Purrs for Minnie. Please shelter her as best you can. Hopefully when
her owners return you can politely educate them that she's been relying
on you for food and shelter, and that, like a child, she needs to be
pet-sat or otherwise cared for in their absence.

--Fil

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mlbriggs - 24 Dec 2005 03:38 GMT

Any chance you have a separate room where she could stay? Maybe with a
little radio to keep her company? MLB

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Karen AKA Kajikit - 24 Dec 2005 21:35 GMT

>Any chance you have a separate room where she could stay? Maybe with a
>little radio to keep her company? MLB

We live in a two-bedroom apartment and the cats would be FURIOUS if we
took 'their' room away from them to put somebody else in it... Minnie
seems to be happy enough now that she's being fed and petted every
day. :)

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~Karen aka Kajikit
Crafts, cats, and chocolate - the three essentials of life
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Karen - 25 Dec 2005 17:19 GMT

>> Any chance you have a separate room where she could stay? Maybe with a
>> little radio to keep her company? MLB
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> seems to be happy enough now that she's being fed and petted every
> day. :)

I think you should let the people know that they could always ask you
to cat sit if they go away. Some people just have "farm" ideas and
don't realize that it is NOT ok to go away and let kitty fend for
itself.

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