Saying good-bye to the neighbors...

One of the most interesting (and often depressing) things about living in this apartment complex is that there are lots of stray cats (at least a dozen adults) that live in the area. All of them are pretty much feral--no way they would let a person touch them. Several of them, though, are infatuated by Bing and Wesley and frequently come up to the patio doors to "visit." Wesley loves it. He gets so excited and whines and whines for me to let them in--something I would never do of course, since they could have all kinds of diseases. And some of them probably would come in too, so long as I didn't get too close. Again, they love the boys, not me. Bing loves the visitors, too, but doesn't want to admit it. He's like that.

Anyway, the other night, I had some leftover chicken that I didn't want to save and that the boys didn't want to eat (they aren't that big on people-food), so I broke one of my own rules and put it out for the strays. The way I figured it, it would be a bit of a good-bye feast from us to them. Plus, Bing and Wes would get some enjoyment out of the visit.


In the time it took me to load the dishwasher, two of our more frequent guests had arrived and were happily chowing down: one of the tortie-colored females who go ga-ga over Wesley (I call them his girlfriends) and an orange tabby that I call, for lack of a better name, "Less Attractive Bing." And yes, I've gotten a lot of grief for this nickname. Over the winter, he was the one cat I fed kind of consistently, since he huddled up against the front wall of the apartment and looked kind of sad, sickly, and cold. But despite all my care, he never let me get that close to him. Vogel once suggested that it was because I called him "Less Attractive Bing." I protested that I never called him that to his face. She said, "It doesn't matter. He knows." Oh well.


So here's some video of the Good-Bye Feast.







It was actually pretty cute--both the tortie and "L.A.B." would take little eating breaks to come up the window to visit with the boys. (I should add that them getting that close does make me just a bit nervous, but my cats are up to date on their shots and their flea preventatives...but still...)


After they left, the boys kept waiting for them to come back...



That was both sweet and sad. Poor strays...they really do break my heart sometimes.