Well, maybe.
We have a new prospective Porch Kitty. Rusty (not a serious automotive epizootic but a light orange mini-kitty) has arrived. He is currently exploring the territory; the porch itself and the front steps pretty-much define it so far but the veteran Porch Kitty, SunnyBoy, has not been exactly a Welcome Wagon representative. There were plenty o’ low growls directed at the little guy as he began to descend the front steps. Rusty just sort of stopped short and looked defenseless while backing up and sounding kinda scared. Didn’t run though.
He has already behaved like a genuine cat–climbed up on the porch table , promptly pushed off two items just because it looked like fun, one broke, one did not. He checked out the pieces, then looked for new entertainment. There wasn’t a lot, but Rusty has looked over the territory–four sleepy-boxes, the secluded mansion in back of my rocking chair, three food dishes, a water bowl or two–and seemed to find it acceptable. No telling what Lily, the dark lady cat who’s part of the ensemble, will think but she can’t see much anyway, so it’ll probably be fine.
Anyway, Rusty has scouted out the sunny flat surfaces on the porch and has seemed to be perfectly happy making use of them. He’s also been respectful of the good manners we’ll be looking for; he has scouted out the sand spots out on the side of the porch, apparently looking for prospective au naturel litter box locations. This is a smart move–no on-site do-dooing.
He’s got a little time before the next echelon of prospective tenants which may be arriving from Hiram, which seems to have an over-population situation…not students, just cats.
At some point, we will have to make a necessary appointment for “the operation”–maybe for a group discount, if the Hiram crowd shows up. I’m not mentioning it to Rusty yet…maybe SunnyBoy will mention it to him…if they’re speaking by then.
