GOTCHA

It was the summer of 2004.
I vividly remember one day my husband and I were sitting in the front bedroom of our house and we heard some meows. It was faint but since it was late at night we figured it was a neighbor's cat passing through. A few days later we were doing some yard work and walked to the front entry of the house and lo and behold there was a gray tabby and B&W cat sleeping together on the front chair we had in our entryway. As soon as they saw me they ran into the hedges surrounding the front of the house. I sat there and called to them and the gray tabby immediately came out. So I went and go some tuna fish to feed them because I could see that they were hungry. In addition to the gray tabby (who was very friendly) the black and white tuxedo came out and surprise so did a orange tabby.

We had never had any pets, so how to care for cats was not something I knew a great deal about. But it appeared we had 3 new friends who had decided to stay around. So we went and got food and other necessary things for them. We were so naive. I thought we could have outdoor cats. At first they all did keep a distance but they soon learned food was something I was giving them twice a day and that became a very important option. As time went by we took them to the Vet and had them all spayed and neutered and we of course named them. Boo, Ping and Jinx. Summer became winter and even though Florida has milder winters it does get cold here, so we decided to let them stay inside the garage at night.

Boo did not like being in the garage, she wanted to be indoors. The decision to let her inside just happened, and she was (and is) the perfect indoor cat. The boys stayed together in the garage and then one day Ping did not come home. We searched high and low but no Ping, so we didn't want to leave Jinx out in the garage by himself, so he came indoors. HE was so happy. If there is such a thing, he was even more perfect as a house guest. The only thing you need to do for Mr Jinx is keep him fed. I do believe he never forgot those few weeks he was outside and starving from not being fed like he was used to.

Well then, Ping came home, sick.
We got him well and he came inside as well.
Although, I think it was so cruel to stop at the curb and abandon three beautiful soulful cats(how does one do that?), I truly thank the idiot/s person(s) who did it. Not only did they bless me, but they blessed these three cats.

And that is how Boo, Ping and Jinx got GOTCHA'ed!