Apparently I have a cat now.
Her name is Aqui. She’s the neighbor’s cat but she lives at my house. We don’t know why her name is Aqui but it seems to fit her because in Spanish “aqui” means “here” and she is always here. Also when you call her, “Here A-qui, Aqui, Aqui! it sounds an awful lot like “Here Kitty Kitty Kitty!” So there’s that.
I didn’t mean to have a cat. As you know. I’m over cats but of course I have a soft spot for them and when she was always around begging for food because the neighbor was gone, I started feeding her. Then I noticed that she was getting really fat. First I thought it was worms, then I thought maybe I was feeding her too much and now I’m 99% sure that she is pregnant. Which is really sad and scary because she’s really still a kitten herself.
She gets along with Holly and she stays outside which is key because I am soooo over cat boxes. I don’t care if I never ever ever see a catbox again. I’m sure at some point in her life I’ll let her in but right now she’s content to sleep the day away on my patio. She doesn’t even want to come in and believe me, the kids have tried to coax her.
She seems very happy.
I was so worried about her and her giant belly I finally asked my neighbor if I could take her to the vet and my neighbor said “Sure, she’s your cat now. She’s always over at your place anyway.”
So there you go. I have a cat. And I love her already.
29 Comments
bethany actually
Awwww. She looks like a sweetie! Annalie would love it if there were kittens when we’re there, heh. And hooray for no catboxes! I’m over them myself.
Madge
Your not my cat looks just like my not my cat!!! hahaha
Amanda
Agreed with the cat box…my least favourite job. She is a cutie though…so that helps! :)
Erica
Awww she is so sweet and looks so pretty on your red chair…
So is she pregnant??? How old did the vet think she is?
Amazing that she gets along with the dog too!
I miss having a kitty..I agree with you about the cat box.
Chiu
She has such a pretty face :)
bethany
what a darling, and yes that looks like a preggo belly in the last shot! i’m so over catboxes but now have two adolescents filling it daily. i’m on the do i/don’t i let them out in the city fence still. so glad you’ve got her :)
margalit
Those telltale swollen nipples say you’re going to be a grandma soon. Congrats! Do you have a good rescue no-kill shelter nearby?
Becca
Yeah, I too would bet you were going to have itty bitty kitties soon – which is fun for the girls to see…maybe, how long are cat pregnancies again?
But also not too much fun because all those kittens will bring begging to keep them, right?
Enjoy your new outside kitty! (I totally hear ya about being over the cat box thing. 150%)
Heather in WA state
Do whatever you can to get her indoors (after taking her to a vet for flea treatment, of course!), so she’ll have a protected place to birth those kittens. Otherwise she’ll disappear to have them, and the kittens may get killed by predators. I know you hate catboxes (so do I), but kittens warrant the extra TLC for mamma cat. How lucky Bug will be to see newborn kittens!
a chris
Oh dear, Brenda, you’re a softie. Sweet looking cat, for sure. Stick to your guns on the kitty litter!
A bit sad that the neighbour never took the cat to the vet to be spayed (clearly there’s a he-cat about who hasn’t been neutered either). We were “adopted” by a pregnant cat too, when I was a kid. For a kid, it was fun to see the process and handle the adorable babies, but in the end they had to go to the humane society. Who knows what their fates were? Kittens are fabulous but they’re not in short supply. :(
Susie
Aw, she’s so cute! We want another cat, but my husband isn’t bending. YET.
Chrisy in Chicago
She’s lovely! And my bet is preggers. It’ll be an interesting learning experience for the 3 muskateers right?
DeeJay
She really is beautiful. Love the photos of her in the red chair. Hope you take some pics of the grandkitties for us to oogle over. Super love to all!
gingermog
Sounds like you’ve been adopted. Lol I guess like babies cats know who like them. Actually that’s not true my Willow cat likes to nuzzle people who have allergies to cat and shes not usually friendly to strangers.
I hate cat boxes too, but Willow was born to a house cat and would never demean herself to dig a hole in the garden, nope cat boxes all the way for her. I’ve dug small holes in the garden and placed her on them as a kind of hint as a kitten and hope an ancient old inherited memory would kick in but no sir, she is not peeing outside.
Kathryn
She can still be spayed while pregnant, just so you know! I know, not a pleasant thought. :( But it’s still doable, especially if you don’t want a litter of kittens on your hands.
Victoria
She certainly looks pregnant! :)
Erin
Agree with Chris – sounds like she has found a more caring home with you, and will get the medical and personal attention she deserves ….. I’m always amazed that not everyone gets their pets neutered or spayed
Teresa M
We have cats that go in and out. We put in a small cat/dog door so that they can come and go. They only go potty outside. I used to put a litter box on the porch in the winter, but they didn’t use it.
They all have all their shots and are healthy. I don’t feel it is fair to make them live in the house their whole lives. They love going outside and don’t really wander too far away, not out of the yard much. They know where they get fed and they are in sleeping in the house most of the time anyhow.
They all get along with the dogs and are one big happy family.
and you can usually get kittys spayed pretty cheap if you ask around.
Amy
Pity your neighbor did not offer to pitch in to have her spayed. Or have done it in the first place. Grrr… one of my ‘pet’ peeves. But congrats on your new family member and I wouldn’t be surprised if one little kitten doesn’t capture your heart ;)
TexasLea
I have a cat that’s not my cat who has been my cat for 12 years now. When he first came around he hung out in my dining room window. Literally. He would lay on the windowsill and anytime he saw someone move in the house he would climb the screen, look at you and meow as loud as he could. It was as if he was saying “Hey, hey you, let me in!” Then it got to where if you opened the door he would run in. He wouldn’t hide under something or stop short like a normal cat, after clearing the door, he would just casually saunter clear back to the bedroom at the back of the house and hop up on the bed as if he belonged there. So, after a month of this sort of behavior and asking the neighbors about him, we finally started feeding him, took him to the vet and he has been here every since. I named him JuneBug because he came up the first part of June that year and bugged me all month long.
As for your kitty, I think it’s time to plan another visit from your kitty lovin’ bro before to long. ;)
BeachMama
I am so not a cat person, but she is a really good looking cat!! Very sweet of you to take care of her!
OMSH
Chiming in to say OUTSIDE CATS ROCK! No cat boxes. No vomit in the carpet (or the only rug in the entire house that they just happened to need to barf on).
Lisame
I refuse to have a cat box. I like cats well enough but no box for me thankyouverymuch. The perfect cat lives on the patio in my opinion. She is gorgeous.
Aunt B
LOL
gramma carol
Whoopie Goldburg had a picture of her cat on the View yesterday and it was a Russian Blue and looked like the cat you’ve “inherited” My cat doesn’t use a cat box,(11 yrs old) I have a cat door and she goes out when she needs to go…even in winter.
Ellen Silva
I have three cats and one dog. All spayed and neutered. Have you considered toilet training. There is such a thing for cats, I kid you not. On the vet trip, don’t forget shots, did your neighbor have them done? With this terrible heat now, lots of shade and plenty of water, clean water. If outdoors, she will need a water bowel that does not attract birds, or get leaves or dirt into it. I love my three extra feline people, they are strictly indoor cats. In fact when we got our last two, we were told they have to be kept indoors. If you kept them outdoors, you could not adopt them.
Kimberly
I’ll be the grumpy one in the comments and send a virtual stinkeye to your neighbor for not taking care of the cat to begin with and then letting you foot the vet bill and deal with the impending kittens. Classy.
SAJ
Yeah, it’s not the best thing but life has been tough for her. I can’t really write about it here but I will say that her husband is in jail for beating her and her son has a brain tumor so I’m inclined to help her out. I wish I could blog about all the neighborhood stories but unfortunately they are not my stories.
Tari
Hi SAJ…
Speaking of kitty litter, you might like to check out a “cat training program” called “Citi Kitty”. Just google it. You can train your cat to use the toilet! No more kitty litter. Saw it on “Shark Tank” and ordered one for our kitty. Since then we have a new kitten – both cats are getting adjusted – soon we’ll begin potty training. Citi Kitty is affordable and I believe it works! That said, when I was growing up, the cats always went outside. Never heard of a litter box until after college. Good luck!