Off Topic

Yup. It's another cute cat picture. Sorry.

This is Chopper. Some kid moved into my courtyard, got him as a kitten, and proceeded to neglect him. He'd leave him locked up in the apartment, alone, for days with nothing but a huge bowl of dry cat food and a bucket of water. Chopper would sit in the window all day screaming to get out.

I'm the self-appointed gardener of the courtyard and when watering I would spray the window where Chopper was sitting. It freaked him out a bit the first couple of times, but he realized he wasn't going to get wet, and took to sitting there while I sprayed the window.

The kid would take the overflowing cat box into the private courtyard behind his place, and just dump it on the ground. This got the landlord excited and Chopper was evicted. The landlord didn't know what the cat looked like, had only seen the cat box evidence, so the kid just kinda kicked Chopper out. He hung around and got fed once in a while when the kid would make a rare appearance at his apartment, so I picked up the slack and fed him regularly.

This led to Chopper hanging with me a lot. He'd follow me around when I was watering, and due to the window spraying, he had little to no fear of water, and would stand inches away from the spray as I watered, whereas the numerous cats that occupy the courtyard would maintain a considerable distance.

I talked to the kid one evening and expressed my concern over Chopper's well being; asked if he had plans to place him with someone. He had none--had opted to let Chopper fend for himself. Chopper, being very young, was learning the ropes when it came to dealing with the adult cats in the courtyard. He got his butt kicked regularly and had no chance of respite cuz the poor guy didn't have anywhere where he could escape their advances. I bit the bullet, bought a case of cat food, and moved him in.

I don't do cat boxes. Chopper's been with me for a couple of weeks now and he is real good about going outside to do his business. The one drawback is that he has chosen to perform this task at 4am on the dot. He employs his "outside voice" in order to wake me to let him out. I don't really mind, I like getting up early, and he's such a sweetheart I seldom scold him for doing so.

Considering adding him to the "About Us" page on the website as the company mascot. But then Chantal would insist on equal billing for her pitbull cross.

I had no part in naming him.