Day 21 - Kitty cat

There is a new cat in my neighborhood who pulls on my heart-strings. It looks like it is lost or abandoned. Here in the Phoenix area, we have a huge population of feral cats. With the high number of foreclosures and job losses in the past 2-3 years soooo many cats were abandoned. Now they roam the streets and neighborhoods. They have multiplied like crazy and this is a serious issue for our cities. We have a few feral cat colonies in my development. This new cat is different though. I'm not sure if it is male or female, but in the distaste of calling it an 'it', I am choosing to refer to the cat as a him. He has a collar with a small bell. I don't see a tag and he never lets you get close to him. He seems frightened and is always looking for hideouts. Yesterday, I saw him limp through my front courtyard. It looks like his right hind leg is injured - I'm not sure if another cat attacked him. My heart just broke for him. I've been on the look-out for him ever since. I saw him go hide out on my sister's side patio. A little while later I went out to check on him and he had moved to her flowerbed. I think the concrete had gotten too cold for him. A little bit later it started to rain and I felt sad for him. I went to look for him and he had gone across the parking lot and was huddled next to a car under the parking structure.

I am not a cat person. I don't really like cats. I don't want one as a pet, so I am torn as how to best help this little guy. My gift is to focus on sending him loving, kind and protective thoughts. I've been at it all day today, hoping he made it through the night and is OK. This afternoon, to my surprise, he showed up on my back patio. My patio is covered and provides good protection. He was curled up, sleeping on my rug. I was happy he was safe. I watched him sleep for a while, sending him healing thoughts for his leg. After a while he hobbled away to stalk a bird. I'm not sure if he will come back, but I went ahead and put out a little bowl of water for him, just in case.