Baby Cat

Linus has made a friend. Not the opossum that he used to share his dinner with last summer. So, perhaps I should be thankful. No, this one is a tiny, gray, long-haired baby cat.

The first time I saw him, he was crying constantly. Meow, meow, meow, meow…in that little squeaky, high-pitched voice. So, I reached down to pick him up. Two things jumped out at me immediately. First, all four limbs on this cat stretched out like the bright orange, bouncing Cingular icon that I miss so much. It seemed apparent to me that this baby cat had never been held. How sad.

The second thing I noticed right away was that he was obviously sick. One eye was nearly matted shut; the other one could possibly have been missing. That's how bad it looked. I immediately put him down.

I then gave Linus a lecture about NOT getting sick from this baby cat. I also told him that the baby cat could NOT stay and that Linus was NOT to share his food with him. I even started making Linus come inside to eat.

This morning as I was leaving for work, I saw the baby cat…in Linus' bed, the one he inherited from Bo. This tiny, baby cat was all curled up in a ball like they sometimes do. I picked up the bed, which (needless to say) startled the baby cat to a heart rate the speed of a locomotive. I explained to him that this was NOT his bed, NOT his home, and that I would NOT be feeding him, so he might as well go back to where he came from. He scooted back as far as he could to the back of the bed and meowed.

It then crossed my mind how much alike Linus and Jeff are. Jeff was never one to bring home every stray animal he found. (Thank God!) But he always seems to befriend the kids most in need of a friend…kids that are a little outcast, undesirable…trouble-makers. I still to this day don't know why he has such an affinity for this echelon of society. Perhaps one day he'll be a philanthropist, meeting the needs of the young and underprivileged.

At any rate, there is now a baby cat who is making himself at home in Linus' bed. His left eye has almost healed. His right eye now just looks really sick. And I'm debating whether or not to feed him and even take him to the vet so that I don't have a SICK baby cat roaming around my yard with my healthy cat.

Ugh! I really don't want another cat. What are the chances he'll leave? If I feed him, zero. So, what are the chances he'll make Linus sick? If he sticks around long enough and sleeps in Linus' bed, probably pretty good. I'm going to need a sensitive scale to weigh these two alternatives.

On a more positive note, and because I'm totally a glutton for punishment, I've done a bit of research on a scientific page that outlines kingdoms, phylums, classes, genuses, etc. And I've come up with a couple of potential names for the baby cat. My favorite is Panthera Leo. Linus and Leo, kinda cute, huh? But there was one that was defined as "wild cat" -- Felis Silvestris. He could be either Felix or Silvester. Then again, both of those names are well documented in cat cartoon history. Panthera Leo, it is.

Ugh, I really don't want another cat. I hope he finds some other home soon...like BEFORE I start calling him something besides "the baby cat".