<p style="text-align: center;"><em>A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">You’ve read about the turtle that Sadie thought was a chew toy. You’ve also read the saga of Alex the squirrel who has been moved to a transition spot before being released into the wild.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://judythewriter.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/cat.png"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-6142" src="http://judythewriter.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/cat-262x300.png" alt="cat" /></a>You may have forgotten about the cat. Or you may have thought it was only there for dramatic affect. Well here’s the story of the cat.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">To review, we had an uninvited guest living under the shed. The dogs were quick to discover the scent yet were unable to flush the critter out. So we began to set traps – live traps, that is. At first they remained empty.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Then one Sunday morning, Beekeeper Brian went outside to discover …. a cat in the trap. This was not what we expected.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">We moved the cat out of the backyard so the dogs would not go crazy. It sat on the side of the house all day Sunday. I put some water in the trap and the neighbors gave it some food. The girls really wanted to keep it, but I wasn’t sure that the cat would stay next door. Our yard was so much more interesting.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">I planned to take it to the animal shelter first thing on Monday. Only to discover our animal shelter is closed on Mondays.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">I called animal control. They do not pick up animals unless they had set the trap. So I took the cat to a nearby Humane Society. They only took in animals from out in the county and the neighboring town.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">I was not happy. Neither was the cat. It had been in the cage for more than 24 hours. I took it back home and put cage in the shade beside the house again.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The neighbor girls gave it more food and tried to convince their mom to let them keep it. The mom was convinced they had taken in enough animals from Miller Farm. Remember, they were the ones who adopted Annabel/Rosie – the stray dog we rescued.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Tuesdays I work from 7:30-3:30 then teach piano lessons until almost 7:00. I do have a 42 minute break after lunch and planned to take the cat to the animal shelter then.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">This meant the cat went to work with me. I tried to place it in an inconspicuous spot so the kids would not be distracted. It didn’t work. In every class there was at least one child who wanted to adopt the cat.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">To each one I gave the same response – the cat would be at the animal shelter. They were welcome to adopt it from there.
During my break I took the cat to the animal shelter. They did the paperwork, and I returned to work.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The next day one of my students announced they had a new cat. Fortunately, that student lives far enough away that the cat won’t find its way back to our shed.</p>