MemeMachineGo!

Starting a couple of weeks ago, Pocahontas and I were frequently seeing a calico-Siamese-mix cat without a collar handing around our house. She wouldn't come close to us, but she didn't flee, either. Week before last, she was sitting smack-dab in the middle of our driveway when I got home from work Thursday and Friday. We figure she was angling to adopt us.

Her sucker-detecting radar was in perfect working order, but what she didn't know is that one of our cats, Salt, is a psycho hose-beast, and if we tried to introduce a new cat into the house, Salt would endlessly torture the interloper.

Weekend before last, we were watching for the stray; when we saw her around the house on Sunday, we baited a cat carrier with a can of wet food. When she took the bait, we pounced, but a little too soon. We had to wrestle with her to get her into the carrier.

Any doubt I had that she was lost or abandoned and not feral disappeared -- we still have all our arms. She merely struggled with us, and didn't try to scratch or bite.

We tried taking her to the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society, only to learn that they don't accept strays. They referred us to the City of Berkeley's Animal Care Services, which was closed, but has a very sensible night deposit box system. A bank of unlocked lockboxes face outward; you fill out a form, deposit the animal, and close the door. The boxes already have water dishes; we left the can of cat food.

They keep animals for a week to give owners the chance to claim lost animals; then they're put up for adoption. I've been tracking her progress, planning to personally seek a home for her, but I learned today that she's been adopted.

Hope you're happy, little kitty.