Cats

  I own a cat.  Actually, I feed a cat would be a more accurate statement.  I have a weakness for taking care of baby animals.  I've fed numerous baby birds and squirrels. I even fed a tiny baby field mouse but his injuries were too severe to save.  My best guess is that he escaped from a cat.  Cats are by nature hunters, I cannot blame them for that.  I raised a baby squirrel I named Barry.  I released him at the vets office where I worked.  He would come visit every day and take peanuts out of my hand.  He had no fear of people or other animals since I found him before his eyes were open.  My guess is that he was just being friendly when the cat killed him.  I watched a cat torturing a chipmunk once.  Said cat was having a ball batting the poor thing around.  This cat was somebody's well fed pet, he had no interest in eating the chipmunk, he was just having fun.  I chased him off and hopefully the chipmunk was able to recover from this horror.
  Back to my cat.  Here in the campground we have a storage area where old and damaged rvs go to die.  The owners hired someone to tow the old trailers out and we went through them to see if there was anything we could use.  In the bathtub of a mangled travel trailer were four kittens.  They could not have been more than a week old.  It was March and still quite cold so their chances of survival were slim to none.  We took two of them to a rescue facility, a coworker took one and I kept the brown tabby because I loved his coloring.  
  I bottle fed him every few hours day and night and my dogs took him in as one of their own.  Cricket would lick him clean and Gable would play so gently with the tiny kitten.  I kept telling myself that since I had gotten him so early he would not be like those other cats.  I named him Rueben because of the little cap on his head that looked like the ones the Jewish men wore.  Life was good and I enjoyed sharing pictures and stories of my cute little kitten.  I tried to keep him indoors but he was constantly trying to sneak out when I walked the dogs.  He finally won that battle and would join us on our walks.  The campground guests got a major kick out of the cat who acted like a dog.  He would roll on his back for a belly rub and greet every passing dog like it was his friend.   Dogs chase cats, even my dogs chase cats but not if they don't run away.  Rueben fit right in.
   I'm not really sure what happened but somewhere along the way Rueben became a cat.  He demanded to be fed as soon as my eyes opened in the morning.  Anything in his way to reaching the countertop food bowl was knocked to the ground.  He would hit the door until I opened it to go out and climb up the screens to demand I let him in.  3:00 am was play time and not quiet let me sleep play time.  More like break the glass, chew on my toes, climb the doors kind of stuff.  He started spending more time outside and I started finding half eaten "presents" on my front porch.  He refused to come when called.  I know that this is just normal cat stuff but I am a dog person.  My dogs do things that annoy me but all in all they try to please me.  Rueben lives to please himself.
   I take care of Rueben.  He is well fed and lives a life that most animals would be lucky to have.  He has a home with me as long as he lives.  Would I give him up to someone who would adore all his catlike qualities?  Absolutely,

does anyone want a cat?