My Stray

I live in a rental lower flat in a medium size city. I have a large yard. The yard boarders a small woodland area which runs along a river. There is a plethora of wildlife. I truly love this place because of the natural setting and wildlife. I have bird feeders for every kind of bird in our area. I have suet feeders, peanut feeders, thistle feeders, and sunflower feeders, and of course I put seed on the ground for ground feeders. I enjoy watching the birds and squirrels and even the opossums and raccoons that wander in my yard. I put stuff out for the opossums and raccoons. They usually come shortly after sundown.

I just caught a glance of him as he dashed off into the woods. So untrusting of our kind he would not let me see him. I knew he was a cat. I knew he was a homeless cat. I knew he came here to eat scraps thrown into the yard for the raccoons. I had seen him the night before in my yard amongst the raccoons. It was early fall and I had stayed up late to count the raccoon mothers and their babies. There were four mother raccoons and twelve babies. The moonlight revealed one more critter out there in the shadows, one lone cat.

My heart ached for the stray. No home to call his own. No one to love and shelter him. I was on a mission. A mission of rescue. Over the next few weeks
I put out cat food, dry and canned, hoping the stray would find it, but alas the raccoons would always claim it first. They would arrive much earlier then the stray and he would just forage for scrapes amongst the raccoons. He would always keep his distance as raccoons can be very fierce.

Then one evening the stray was there first, before the raccoons. My heart leap with joy hoping beyond hope that he would end up with the cat food. Besides I was getting pretty tired or feeding the raccoons all that cat food. He lay at the edge of the woods in plain sight. I thought this was a good sign. I gathered up the the food dishes and sat them out. After latching the back door he made a bee line for the dishes. From my back porch window I watched him and he was about half done when he looked up at the window. Seeing me in the window spooked him and off he ran. I felt so bad about scarring him off.

The next morning when I went out to fill my bird feeders, guess who was waiting by the edge of the woods. It was the stray cat. My heart skipped a beat. I finished filling feeders and hurried in to get the his food ready. To my surprise when I stepped out with the dishes in my hand he was waiting at the end of the driveway. I sat the dishes down and went inside. After I latched the door he ran for the dishes. I did not peek out the window, instead I gave him plenty of room so he would not run off.

I have been feeding my stray for over a year now. He comes every morning at six and again in the evening about thirty minutes before sun down, which is always a different time of day, depending on the the season. I still can not touch him and he will still run off he he sees me watching him. I only hope he will let me be his owner some day. As for now I have to be content with the arrangements he has set.