Why have a pet if you think they are disposable?

Yesterday was absolutely beautiful. I hung laundry out on the line to dry. I worked in the garden for hours. Dh and I took a little bike ride.

We ran across a house in our sub that was for sale. I generally don't poke around when a house is empty but yesterday I felt compelled to walk to the back of the house. It was a masonite ranch with full daylight basement that sat on 2.25 acres at the edge of a pond. No landscaping whatsoever. Ugly house on the outside. Roof not in the greatest shape. Mud splashed up on the harsh red and black brick foundation. The windows were tiny and mismatched. Except for the big picture window that looked out over the pond, they served little purpose. No charm at all. The sound of the peepers in the pond was wonderful though.

The pond itself was nothing to get into a froth about. There was a tiny island in the middle covered in brush and a couple dozen little orange flags...the kind used by comcast to mark a cable line. Really trashy looking. A pair of Mallards skimmed across the top. (I love ducks and geese.) Except for the eight foot easement around the pond, the "backyard" was covered in white gravel. It was a very sterile lot. I was about to leave when dh called me over to show me the parts of a water treatment tank laying on the ground. Apparently they had the same problem with their water as we do. I peeked around the edge of the house and that's when I saw the cat.

A skinny beat up little white cat. The hair around his neck was greasy and dirty. One of his ears had been badly mauled. His backbone was like a string of pearls. And yet he was friendly. He walked over to his food dish and gave it a sniff. The bowl had been run over by a car...probably the realtor's. There was no food in sight. I looked at dh and he immediately said 'NO'. He knows me too well. I told the cat I'd be back. He watched us go.

We biked back to the house. I quickly filled a baggie with catfood and headed back out. The cat was there waiting for me. He was starving and hogged into the food. I can only surmise that the cat had been the owners' pet and when they moved they left the cat behind to fend for itself. It was not doing well. So, I'll be heading back to that house this afternoon with another baggie of food and we'll see if we can't get that little cat's strength back to where it has a fighting chance. Poor thing must have been miserable last week with the temp in the teens, six inches of snow, and no food.