Cat’s Out of the Bag!

I may have a cat addiction. It’s hard to see a cat without thinking they should be at our house instead of wandering around the city. And I’m now carrying a small container of cat food in my car. Why? One never knows when one might find a hungry cat. Case in point: Wal-Mart. My daughter and I were there the other day and a pretty gray-striped cat was wandering around. I didn’t think too much about it, because you can’t go very far in this town without seeing a stray cat or dog.

A few days later, Ed and I were at Wal-Mart and when we came out, the same cat was there. Apparently, she (Ed looked) likes to hang out at that Wal-Mart. She doesn’t look like she’s starving to death, so I’m thinking the customers have been giving her food. Or perhaps buying her a sub, since there’s a Subway inside. At any rate, she’s friendly, so I’m not sure if someone lost her or if she’s just a Wal-Mart resident.

We had bought cat food, so Ed cut a slit in one of the bags and I grabbed a handful. She readily followed me to a safe place, and I put it on the ground for her. It didn’t take but a second for her to get over her fear of me grabbing her up and catnapping her. She started eating, with one eye on the pile and another on me.

I got another handful and went back. She didn’t even flinch when I dropped more on the ground and backed away. During this process, a man walked by and saw what I was doing. I guess he’s a cat lover, too, because he was grinning.

I considered putting her in the trunk and taking her home with us. Before I get the raised eyebrow, that Wal-Mart is within a few minutes of our house, so she wouldn’t die on the way home. That wasn’t the big consideration. Of bigger concern was the stop at Hobby Lobby we’d made earlier. If you know anything about cats, you know you can’t put yarn within five miles of a cat, or you’ll have a mess on your hands.

Our cats are masters at finding yarn. Frankie even figured out how to open a yarn container I have, and I walked into the den to find yarn all over the floor. So, no, cat in trunk was not an option. Another concern was who was with me. Even the mention of bringing home a stray cat made Ed start to hyperventilate. Bottom line, if I’m going to catnap her, I’m going to have to do it when there’s no yarn in the trunk and no hubby in the passenger seat.

When we got home, I fixed up the container of food and put it in my car. I can’t depend on having just bought a sack of food when I run across a stray cat, so I’ve solved that problem. I thought about throwing some dog bones in there, too, but you run the risk of a dog biting the hand that feeds him, so stray dogs will be on their own.

Stray dogs, stray cats, and stray people are a problem in our town. As they are in most big cities. Homelessness has become rampant and it breaks your heart to see people on street corners asking for a handout or know they’re living underneath an overpass. Of course, you’re never sure if you give them money for food it’ll really go for food.

With a cat, that’s not a concern. Even if you gave them money, they couldn’t go to their local catnip pusher and get high. Even so, it makes more sense to carry food for them than dropping a dollar on the ground. If they’re like our cats, they’d hide it someplace, so that would be pointless. I’m still looking for a $20 bill Bruce left on the kitchen counter for me. He’s been dead for over 30 years and I still haven’t found it. Cats excel at hiding things.

I think God puts people like me here for a reason. Sometimes we all wonder what our purpose in life is. Why are we here? What is God’s plan for us? In my case, He’s making that fairly clear. My purpose is cat feeding. Not a huge plan for my life, but a necessary one. And sometimes it’s the small things in life that make a difference. Whether it’s feeding a stray cat or offering a word of encouragement to someone who needs it, we all need to pay more attention to the small things. Sometimes that can make a world of difference to a person. Or a cat.

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