On the way home from a long lunch that ended with 2 for 1 happy hour pisco sours I saw this cat lying on the sidewalk next to a very busy road and cycle path. At first I thought it might be dead because it was a very strange place to take a nap, but then I saw his ears twitch. Then I thought he must be sick, because no healthy cat would flop down in a place without shelter with people, bars, bicycles – and dogs! – constantly passing by. I felt terrible just walking away, so I decided to find him some food and, if he wouldn’t eat it, then I’d know he was sick and then… I don’t know! I guess call animal protection services. I hadn’t thought that far ahead. So I found a supermarket and bought a tin of wet food, thinking by the time I got back it was likely the cat would be gone, but nope. He was still there, sleeping. UNTIL I put the tin of cat food under his nose. Then he popped up and proceeded to chow down.

I stayed with him while he ate, eventually moving the tin next to a tree, because he kept pushing it all over the sidewalk with his nose. Meanwhile people stopped to admire him and one woman told me that the cat “lived” in an abandoned house a few doors away, and took me to see it. And what do you know? There was a big plastic tub of dried food on the doorstep, another full of water beside it, and a hole in the door for the cats (apparently he doesn’t live alone) to get in and out. So I had worried for nothing.

As you can see, he is quite a beauty and clearly not starving or sick. He didn’t even finish the tin of food, though I’m sure it was the nicest meal he’s had in a while. Instead he stopped to groom himself before giving me a parting glance over his shoulder and dashing through three lanes to traffic to a building site across the road. The end.  🙂

(for one horrid moment I thought the end of the story would be that the cat got run over, but it seems like he’s been doing this for awhile)