Meow

Thursday evening while we were walking down the driveway with Scout, we heard a meowing that seemed like it was coming from inside our hedge. But we couldn't see a cat anywhere. It was dusk, and of course Scout was in favor of doing an all-out search, but we were not so sure. We knew there had been a little cat wandering around the neighborhood lately. We looked around the hedge a little and forgot about it.

The next morning when Scout and I went for our walk, we heard the meowing again. It was louder. But I still couldn't see a cat anywhere. The meowing seemed to be coming (again) from inside the hedge. When we went inside, I could still hear the meowing from the kitchen.

I thought -- something must be wrong. Maybe the little cat is injured. Otherwise, why would she stay in the same place and meow all night? so -- I called animal control. They said they didn't have anyone on yet, but they'd be out later.

Then, I decided to take one more look, on our neighbor's side of the hedge. I rooted around and found a flashlight. There, on the other side of our hedge, was a cage, something like a dog kennel -- and the little cat was inside, meowing like crazy. I wasn't sure what the explanation of that could be. I know my next-door neighbors, and I can assure you, they are not into any kind of animal torture.

I called animal control back and cancelled the order. Sometime later, I called our neighbors, and left a message about the kitty. Something on the order of "surely there must be some explanation."

In the evening I got a call back.

It was a raccoon trap, and our neighborhood kitty got stuck in it.

Don't worry, all you cat lovers, she was not hurt.

But it seems that raccoons are a real problem in our neighborhood. My neighbor said she had been scared one evening when she came home late and found about eight of them in her front-yard tree, shaking the branches. This is possibly what makes Scout suddenly start barking at the front window sometimes.

I said, It seems like "The Birds", only with raccoons, and my neighbor did not disagree.

In the meantime, the kitty is still around. My neighbor said that she thinks the cat eats some of the food neighbors put out for the deer. We do not feed the deer, or the cat. But, she lives in our garage. She seems very comfortable in there.

Today, I got some pictures of her: in the garage and out on the driveway. It's pretty clear that, though Scout is very interested in her, she is not interested in Scout.

However, she does seem to like us. When I was trying to take her pictures, I would kneel down, and she would run up to me and rub up against my pant legs.

Tonight, she was sitting on our back steps. And she followed my husband and dog on their nightly walk.

Pictures will follow.

In the meantime, what do we do about this cat?