Someone heard that I'm a person claiming that squirrels should have equal moral consideration to that granted to humans and so, considering me a soft touch, he has taken up residence in my garden.
The first time I saw Cat, he jumped onto a chair on my patio and then saw me in the conservatory. He froze and stared at me through the glass for more than a minute before turning and scurrying away. Funnily enough, he did the same staring thing to my next door neighbour who said she was quite freaked out by it. I must admit, it was uncanny.
Cat is black with orangey-brown stripes and I had the sense he was a bit scruffy so I started putting food out. I put the food in a little shelter made from a plastic recycling box with a strange plastic chair thing as a kind of... well... verandah. I've filled the food every day and the bowl is always empty, licked to a pristine shine,when I return.
Then I used a tarpaulin barrel thing, which I laid on its side and littered with dried leaves, as a bed. I don't know that Cat has made use of it or if he's just gone home to his nice warm house.
Now, Cat's presence is not exactly ideal.
I was leaving food out for the birds, some on the ground and some hanging up, which a squirrel tips onto the floor when it tries to eat it. A while ago, the birds stopped eating the food on the ground and clearing up after the messy squirrel. Though the small birds still have the hanging food, the blackbirds and silly pigeons have gone. i think that Cat had a hand, or claw, in that.
But the real issue is Cat. Will he want to come in? At the moment he's very scared and races away as soon as I open the door or disturb him in the garden. But today he sat there on the chair looking at me through the conservatory - I was in the kitchen, he ran away when I went into the conservatory - for twenty minutes or so. It was the first time I'd seen him, since that staring contest about a week ago.
My cats would not welcome him. But a mewing cat in the pouring rain or a bitter frosty night... Neighbour's boyfriend says she should try to catch him before winter and get him to a shelter. But that worries me too. If he is feral, then a cage seems like it would be appalling, terrifying, incomprehensible.
Anyway, for now, I will just go with the flow and let Cat make the next move.
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