I came home from vacation and looked around the fenced-in backyard and
then let the boys out. A neighbor comes by to say hello, comes into
the backyard, and Nipsy The Wuss runs into the house. So only Espy
should be in the yard but a friend suddenly notices that there are
still two cats in the yard. Uh oh.

I grab Espy and take him inside, and then try to get the other cat by
gentle coaxing and making nice noises. The fencing is designed to keep
my cats in but it's possible for another cat to get in, although
that's only happened once before.

I opened a hole in the fence and tried to get the other cat to use it
but he was panicking and trying to get out everywhere else. To no
avail of course. Then I open the door to go back into the house and
Espy runs out and chases this poor little cat around the yard, finally
cornering him/her under an azalea. I made a critical mistake here and
reached in and grabbed Espy. I should have grabbed the other cat.

So, Espy, no worse for the short battle, is back inside, and finally
the cat takes off through the hole in the fence. Damn, I missed my
chance to get the poor skinny thing. I've seen him (I'll assume it's a
him for now) around a few times and I'm sure he's a stray.

I should have grabbed him and put him into the Cat Introduction Room
where I could have fed him and then brought him to the vet. Maybe I
could have kept him. I wonder if he and Espy could be friends after
the fight. He is a very cute cat who looks like Espy, DSH, part white,
part brownish. Astonishingly beautiful eyes and he sure looked smart.
But so skinny. Would he be likely to adapt to a mostly indoor life?

I saw him outside the front of the house last night and left out some
food but it was still there in the morning.