Our Barn Cat Without A Barn

Living on a farm you learn that you don't really have "inside" pets. You have pets that are called "barn cats" or the "yard dog" - the horses you expect to stay outside, no big deal there, and the cows you were taught not to name them or get too attached to them because they would be your dinner soon enough. I was taught this from the very beginning, so trying to teach this concept to Dallon who is almost 6 has been a little bit harder.

It all started one night about a month ago. Dallon & I were cleaning up dinner and noticed a sad looking orange cat hanging-out on the back deck. We watched him for a minute and he looked scared and quite on the edge. I kind of hoped that he would just wonder back off so I wouldn't have to address this sickly looking cat to my 6 year old. So we kept cleaning up and the cat just kept watching us and Dallon was becoming more and more fascinated with, what was now being called, "our cat". Now anyone who knows my husband, Ryan, knows that we don't have the small variety of pets - especially cats. So I'm thinking, 'Great, Dallon thinks this is "our cat", what am I going to tell him when this cat disappears tomorrow and we never see him again...' Well Dallon is getting "worried" about the cat now, it's cold outside... Just then there is a knock on the front door, it's my Mom. So Dallon promptly shows her our cat and my Mother being a big animal lover (she now has an indoor cat) she thinks she better go get the cat some food. So she comes back with some cat food, we feed the cat, he snarfs the food down like he hasn't ate in years. We leave the cat alone - I'm kind of hoping that he just keeps on his way and he'll be gone in the morning - however, I knew better, once we had fed him, he was probably sticking around.

So the next morning this cat is still there and meowing, he's hungry and wants some more of that food! So we got him some food and started to take care of him. We got him a box to sleep in, with a towel and some carpet. We got him some dishes for his food and water and he has moved in quite nicely. I told Dallon we couldn't name him - I thought I would give him at least a week to move on. But after a week we decided to name him Alvin. He has big cheeks like Alvin & The Chipmunks. So there is a picture of our cat in his box on the back deck. He has even kind of warmed over Ryan, in as much as Ryan has started "protecting" him from the other stray cats that tend to wander around and harass Alvin. I think that Alvin is old and he doesn't try very hard to protect himself. For a while we didn't think Alvin even had front claws, but we did finally get him to show his claws, so he does have them. He can catch mice, he was in my garage for about 5 minutes and caught a mouse, so the cat has been moved out of the garage and the decon has gone down, sorry Alvin.

So there is the story of our new barnless barn cat, Alvin.