Four, Sooner Than Expected

Life does not always turn out as one expects. My new fourth cat arrived a couple of days earlier than expected - but it’s not the new fourth cat I expected…

I returned from work yesterday and ran into my building’s manager; he was glad I did as he wanted to speak with me. He showed me a note that had been thrust under his door. It was a simply worded request to look after a cat. Then he took me to an apartment in our building where I met the cat.

The tenant - previous tenant, now - departed earlier, leaving behind her keys, what looked to be most of her belongings, and her pet. I of course knew why I was being shown the cat. The manager is a cat-person. He has several, and feeds outsider-cats, but I know he is unable to have any more. No one else in the building was going to volunteer. Now I have a fourth cat.

We know nothing about her beyond her name - which will be changed - and her gender. She is a medium-sized black (of course) lady, probably about two or three years of age. It’s unlikely that she has been spayed or even seen a veterinary in her life - though she did know what a carrier was, so it may be that she is familiar with hospital visits. It took about twenty minutes to capture the poor beast, whereupon I put a blanket over her and put her in a carrier.

She is occupying my library. She made some noise during the night but was mostly quiet. She hides from me when I come into the room, but there is no panic in her retreats, and I have seen her twice on top of the short bookcase, looking out the window. She even was on the couch at one point. She is scared but not terrified. She has eaten some food - a big concern with a new cat - and used the litter-box, for both varieties of waste -  another big concern. I suspect she has met few strangers in her life, but her reactions to me and the manager suggest that she will come around well enough with time.

The problem with the new cat’s arrival is that Carmella won’t be able to come to my place yet. If this development had occurred a fortnight later, even one week, Carmella could have had her isolation time - which I don’t believe would have been necessarily long - and brought out to live with the others, and the new cat could have taken her place. I could still bring Carmella in, but I won’t do that without giving her a safe-zone, at least for a while, and I no longer have the space for that. My goal is to have Carmella come and stay, but she will have to wait.

In the meantime, I will come up with a name for my new guest.