Bike Ride Leads to Fascinating Story about Cats and Their People

Here is the feral cat feeder I mentioned in yesterday’s blog posting. Unfortunately the cats ran away when they saw us and refused to be photographed. Also I have lost the piece of paper where I wrote a few notes, but I think the cat-feeder's name was Anne, and I think I remember most of her story.

About a year and a half ago, someone at her work was talking about having seen some kittens along the bike path, so she went to find them, saw that they were uncared for, and began taking them food every day and leaving it at this same spot. After a while her job went away, but she kept feeding the kittens even after she went on unemployment and they grew up to be cats. Eventually she sold her car [yay] rather than keep up the expense of maintaining it, but she kept feeding the cats every day, approaching as close as she could by bus and the rest of the way on foot. When she began having some problems with her feet, this became more difficult. Besides that, it wasn’t exactly cheap buying them all this cat food. I had noticed that this wasn’t just a bunch of table scraps she was bringing them, but a combination of good quality wet and dry cat food.

She said that the project was getting too hard for her so she asked Mother Theresa for help. The next day when she came to feed the cats she found a note from the Feral Cat Coalition saying Whoever has been feeding these cats, we’ll take over from here six days a week, but if you could keep doing it on Sundays, that would be great.

[Wait. I've heard from the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon in response to this blog and it seems that this is not exactly what they do. They do not take on feeding cat colonies. I'll get more details for you and clarify this as soon as possible. Maybe I'll find my missing piece of paper. Meanwhile, do not call the FCCO at this time and try to get them to adopt your neighborhood cat colony. Details to come in a future blog post.]

So that’s what she was doing there last Sunday when we stopped our bikes and turned around to ride back and talk to this woman Lindi noticed scooting food under the fence to a cat. We just had to ask.

On a bike it’s easy to stop and talk to people that catch your interest. I highly recommend it for good stories and connection with other human beings.