Convenient love.

Okay, I might piss off a few people with this post, so bear with me.

Sunday night, a spunky little black and white kitten appeared on our porch. She has a collar (one that looks much too worse for wear if she was an inside cat) and is obviously socialized from the loving nature she has, but she was very skinny and ate the food we gave her like it was her first meal in weeks. There are plenty of squirrels and chipmunks outside, so I am sure she's eaten lately, but she is almost pure skin and bones.

Our two cats watched us pet her and feed her with a mix of curiosity and downright irritation. Cats. Gotta love 'em, right? They sniffed at her through the screen of the front door and were not hissing (which, in our cats, is a very good sign), so it seemed that curiosity won.

Here's my thing. This little six-month-old kitten (whom I have named Nyx after the Greek Goddess of night, which is when we found her... plus our cats are Achilles and Persephone, so it fits the trend if she gets to live here) has lots of character and is not skittish at all. She comes right up to whomever is outside and more or less demands pets in a very adorable fashion. She has been owned. Even if she didn't have a collar, that would be abundantly clear in the way she acts around people. Which leads me to believe one of two scenarios...

The first is that someone in our neighborhood keeps her as an outside cat. Let me explain why that irks me as much as it does. Our next door neighbor has a rottweiler named Charlie who absolutely LOVES to chase and maim cats. Don't get me wrong, Charlie is the sweetest of dogs... it's just part of the instinct she's born with and that neighbor refuses to fence her yard, so Charlie is free to torment whatever smaller animal she wants without issue. Not to mention the fact that she isn't the only one that we've seen in our yard that would have malevolent intentions towards Nyx. A coyote was wandering just along the other side of our fence not a month ago. I highly doubt anyone is going to keep the coyote from simply eating her. And she's so SKINNY. If someone IS keeping her as an outside pet, they are obviously forgetting to leave food out for her. But that must be the most convenient way for them to have a pet. Which is okay, then, right? Wrong.

The second is that she HAD owners that moved. We live in a fairly predominent military community. Being just off the west gate of Fort Leonard Wood pretty much guarantees that the houses in our neighborhood that go up for rent will be rented out by a military family. I once worked for a veterinarian who would sometimes refuse to adopt a pet to someone who is in the service. I thought that was a jackass move on her part until I saw the effects on the animals they would adopt as pets. There are a LOT of people who simply don't want to deal with the inconvenience of moving with a pet. So they will adopt one at each duty station so they can have a family pet without all the hassle.

Are you kidding me?!

So there are dogs and cats being thrown to the wayside because people don't think they're important enough to travel with. I understand that it's difficult to move every couple years in the military. I've been nomadic for almost my entire adult existence. However... if it's going to be an issue to have a pet, then DON'T HAVE ONE. Get a fish. Make friends. Do whatever you have to do to avoid abandoning your animal at every post so you don't have to deal with it. Just the thought makes me sick.

The funny thing about it is that I am not a fur person. I don't spray paint people for wearing fur coats or get disgusted over leather jackets. I eat meat. But I do believe that, once you domesticate an animal, pets are part of your family for better or worse.

So... I intend to set up an appointment to get this kitty checked out at the vet so we can make sure she's in good health and then bring her inside to join our family.

Oh. If you ARE keeping her as an outside pet, you're failing completely. Don't worry, we will assume the responsibility for her now and make sure she's kept safe and fed properly.