The Cat Stalker

It all begins about one week ago, when I was returning with Kusy from a walk and saw a small, scruffy, collar-less, orange tabby cat calmly walking down the middle of the sidewalk away from my house. Kusy naturally stiffened and watched intently, and the cat kept walking down the street, across a little intersection. I didn't think much of it and went to my house.

Two days later, I was also returning from a walk with Kusy, when I saw the same orange tabby cross the little intersection, heading towards my house. He stopped to scratch his (as I don't know whether a male or a female, I shall use 'he') claws on a tree, then continued on down the street. He laid down by my next door neighbor's car and watched Kusy and me go home. By now I was intrigued.

Then, two days later, this Monday, I was saying goodbye to my mother as she drove to work when, lo and behold, I saw the same cat yet again, heading the same direction it had the first day I'd seen him. I rushed home, grabbed my point-and-shoot and my flip flops, and rushed to follow the cat- hence the 'cat stalker' part.

I followed him down the street (the cat only looked at me once). The cat then turned down the sidewalk of number 5134. I immediately thought of the cat man, who lived across the alley from the house down which's sidewalk (does that make sense?) the cat had walked. I rushed around the block, and the cat man was sitting in front of his house (as he often does), shirtless, bald and very gray bearded, as always. I crossed the street and walked along, but of course I didn't see the cat anymore. The cat man feeds cats in front of his house. I have seen at least 5 or 6 different cats by his house (maybe more). I don't know whether he owns them- none of the cats wear collars.

By then I was used to seeing the cat exactly every other day, so I didn't expect to see him in front of my house Tuesday. I had walked outside to my front lawn with my brother, setting up the hose to water the lawn. And there was the cat, walking the same direction he had twice earlier. I ran into my house, grabbed my d3000, and followed the cat. He turned into the same sidewalk once again. Some pictures from that day:

Now for today. I had been sort of hoping to see the cat again, and was prepared with my d3000 and a baggie of chicken in my shorts pocket. I took several walks throughout the day, hoping to happen upon him. Around four o'clock (I'd seen him a few times around 4-5 pm) I went for a walk. I walked past the cat man's house. The man wasn't outside (a bunch of cats were, though), but walking down the sidewalk by the house next door was none other than the cat. The cat. I, of course, rushed home, to grab a bottle of water and some small bowls. I set up the bowl of water and some chicken (the cat never found these though) and waited with the rest of the chicken pieces and my camera on my front steps. After a while, I saw the cat heading past my house. I waited until he was close by and slowly walked towards him, bending down. I thew some chicken pieces by him, and retreated to my side door to watch. As soon I turned away, the cat began to eat the chicken! Once he was done with what I had thrown him, I slowly came back and put the rest down, hoping to lead the cat to the little bowls. I once again retreated, this time upstairs to watch from my top roof. The cat ate all the chicken but the ones in bowl! Once he was done, he pooped ( hehe) on my neighbor's front lawn, and walked off towards number 5134. The first picture in the post is from today when he was hiding under my mom's car, watching me put down some chicken.

I am not sure whether or not this cat is a male or a female. I don't know whether someone owns him/her (there's no collar, so I'm leaning towards him being a stray). I don't think he's feral, because he walks around during the day and didn't run off when I approached him. He is a gorgeous cat, though. I wonder what his story is. Imagine tracing back his paw prints to the day he was born, to see exactly what life had in store for him. Was he an abandoned pet? A lost pet? Just a friendly feral? I guess I'll never know.