Friday Cat Prose Blogging.

About three weeks ago, a stray cat showed up in our front yard. It announced itself with some plaintive mews--mews, not meows, since it was a genuine kitten. We could tell it had just been dumped. Our town is a great one for central locations where one might post "Have You Seen This Cat" flyers and what-not, and even has a local community newspaper for the folks who place classified ads after they lose their pets.

Anyhow, this kitten, who is a beautiful orange and white tabby, captured the hearts of everyone in the court. We were all leaving food and water outside, and even if they were mostly stolen by the possums, I'm sure the kitten got some, too. And it was amazingly playful--at least at first.

The kitten started out mewing and chasing birds and squirrels, just as you would expect. It was a little more skittish than your average cat, running away from people at the slightest movement, but willing at least to look you plaintively in the eye. I tried a couple times to catch it, mostly just so I could make sure it got its shots, fixed, and a checkup at our vet--after that, I figured I would either release it again or give it to a rescue place so I could make sure it wasn't destroyed.

We had a few rainstorms, during which the kitten took shelter in our new construction. In fact, we were a little worried when it wound up in the crawl space on the day the contractor was due to cover over the floor with plywood; fortunately our contractor was smart enough to leave an opening, which we covered up as soon as we saw the kitten outside again.

As time went on, it became more and more battle-hardened. The mewing stopped, as did the clumsy kittenness, and its eyes were less cute, and more wary. Strangely, this made me love it even more.

Our next-door neighbor called in a friend who traps and rescues stray and feral cats on a regular basis. She set up a trap, baited it with tuna, and the kitten was caught in a half-hour. It went to a local animal hospital. And then what happened?

Well, he came home today (yes, "he" now, not "it"). And he is so damn cute. Admittedly, the other cat and the dog will need to adjust, but with time, anything is possible. And he proved his mettle in an encounter with Buddy (our dog) when he managed to bare his claws, hiss, and jump five feet in the air simultaneously.

Now he needs a name. There's an obvious one, given that our other kitty is named Nimü�e. But I can't picture this little street kitten being named after a famous wizard from Arthurian legend. He seems more like a Hobbit to me.