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Outdoor cats know how to find warm places in winter.  We can still try and make them more comfortable.  There are two neighborhood strays that visit me every morning when I arrive at work.  I get them some breakfast and they appear happy and healthy.  This week things changed.  They were no-shows.  The cold weather had them curled up in a shed behind the company storage barn.

Luckily, some members of our listening audience donated heated bowls for them a couple of years ago.  It keeps the canned food from turning into a ball of ice and they have warm water available.  Sometimes I also trim the fat from meat and poultry at home and bring it to work.  Our two current feline tenants have good stores of fat and thick and healthy coats.  One of the two has been living here since she was born in 2015.

In a world where we have our own kind in need, I’m sometimes asked why I don’t put all my efforts into relieving the suffering of people.  I think there are enough of us in this community where we can do both.  I’ll also mention the cats didn’t ask to be born in a dirty storage barn.  We’ve had drop-offs and some cats who were simply abandoned when their owners moved away from the neighborhood.  These animals are here because people have in many cases done them wrong.

By the way, I discovered this week that the second cat had taken up residence with our long-term survivor.  Number two arrived only a couple of months ago and it’s nice to see they get along.

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