Kitty

If one pet is good, then two are better, right?

Stray cats are all over the place here.  They live on trash and rodents out in the streets and are pretty comfy doing their thing wherever they please.  One of my friends had a sweet little mama cat raising kittens on her front porch and as soon as they were old enough to be weaned, she took mama in to get fixed.  We brought one of the kitties home to see how he'd do in our backyard.

 This little street cat didn't know what to make of our backyard and kept calling for his mama, then running to hide the minute we walked outside.  With the huge walls around the yard, there was no escape but we knew he'd be safe.

We kept offering him free meals near his hiding spots and after a few days he realized people = full tummy.

On the third morning, he came out to see us and sample the goodies we brought.  We'd won his little heart over by going through his stomach!

We still haven't settled on a good name for him (possible contenders - Tiger, Garfield, Hobo, Joe), so we're just going with Kitty for now.  He is a sweet boy with the loudest purr in the world.

He is still a street kitty, though.  On one particularly rainy day, I looked for him in the bushes to bring him up on the porch, and I found him sleeping happy and dry in the tree.

Now the little guy is comfortable on our porch and happy to meow into the window to let us know he needs to be pet.   When he really wants to sleep, he dives down behind the couch cushions and stretches out against the rattan.  I guess he's safe and cool.

Little Kitty will be a strictly outdoor friend but it's great being able to love on him whenever we want and watch his cute kitten antics through the windows.  The kids are loving learning about cats as well as parrots!  It wouldn't feel like home without being some sort of zoo.