A few weeks ago, we had sub-zero temperatures in New Jersey. My wife had a late night at school and upon arriving home around 10pm, she noticed a cat. The cat followed her towards the house after she exited the car. She got into the house and told me that there was a cat outside. I went out to investigate since I was concerned the cat would freeze. Unlike wild cats that see a human being and free, this cat approached me and was ready to be petted. I carried it into the house and did what we thought was the ‘right thing.’ We called the police in order to get in touch with the Animal Control personnel.
You may not believe it, but the response we got was shocking and plain out unbelievable. We were asked to ‘throw’ the cat back out into the cold night. Heart broken and distressed we had to comply. Once I put the cat out, it ran across the street towards the Animal Shelter place. It made me think that someone might have abandoned the cat outside the gate near the Animal Shelter. More so, this was no wild cat. It had a collar but no name or address, was well groomed and smelled like cherry blossom shampoo, but despite telling this to the 911 Dispatcher, there was no concern.
The cat run back after me once it noticed me head back to the house. However, there was nothing I could do. A couple days later, the same cat walked back to our house around 8pm. We heard a ‘Meow’ at our back door, and upon opening the door, the cat popped in. We were thrilled to know it survived that cold night but could not figure out where it had spent a couple days and nights at. Either way, now it was in our house, and the kids are thrilled at best.
They had always wanted a pet. Here was a ‘loving’ cat ready to be petted and more. I made an extra effort to speak to the Animal Shelter personnel in person and mentioned about the cat in my house. He just smiled and said, ‘the cat is home now.’ Though with reservations, we (parents) have come to terms with the fact that we now have a cat. We (parents) felt we were not ready to get a pet. However, let me put it this way “Our kids’ unspoken prayers have been answered.”
May your unspoken prayers be answered too!
[Assuming someone reads this article and recognizes the cat, and wants to claim it, you are more than welcome. We shall adopted another cat from the shelter, otherwise our kids will not be happy to let go a cat that they like dearly.]
