Recently we had an experience with a stray cat. We saw through this an interesting moment of growth in our son. Last Saturday both boys had dentist appointments at 8am. So, around 7:25 we were rushing out the door to make the 25 minute drive when I noticed on the windshield of the van in the garage little footprints. We figured out there must be a cat in the garage, but didn't have time to look right then. So, we decided we would look after we got back home from the dentist.
When we did get home a couple of hours later, the search began. The cat was "meowing", so we knew it was there somewhere. After about 10 minutes in a very cold garage, we found it up in the rafters at the back of the garage. It was in a spot where it couldn't be reached, so we had to figure out what to do next. All 4 of us were out there trying to coax this cat down. It wasn't working. So, we told the kids to go into the house. Angel Eyes listened, our younger son did not. Before he went into the house though, he made sure to ask what we were going to do when we got the cat down. "You're not going to just let it go, are you?" It was pretty cold out, so we did not want to let it go if we could help it. I told him pretty much just that. So, into the house he went. And the coaxing of the cat continued. I brought out a bowl of milk & some food to see if it was hungry. No. After about another cold 10 minutes or so it finally came out of the corner. We got it to go onto the beams where my husband thought he'd be able to get ahold of it. No such luck. It headed onto the boards we have above the beams & moved out of reach.We finally got our other son to head inside so we could deal with this without added distractions. A bit after that it moved onto the open garage door & walked all the way up to the front. I think it thought it would walk right out that way, but there wasn't enough room for it to climb through. It took some more coaxing to get it to go to the back of the door again where my husband was finally able to get ahold of it! We tried again to give it some milk, but it wasn't hungry. We could tell this had been a pet; it's fur was beautiful & shiny, very friendly, not one hiss at any of us. We brought it into the house where we all got to pet & hold it. It did not want to be inside, though. He kept finding his way to the entryway of the house & crying to go outside. We had put the dog outside before we brought the cat in, but had to bring him in out of the cold. Not a good moment for the cat. It really wanted out then! Our cute little dog learned about a cat's anger. After that he just stood back & barked at the cat.
We put the dog in his kennel & tried to figure out what we were going to do. None of the shelters around here will take cats & this one was way too healthy to take a chance it would be put down. I made a call to a good friend of mine who is a big time cat lover. I asked her what she thought about us letting it go since that's what it seemed to want, hoping it would find it's way home again. She reassured us we were making an ok decision & the cat would likely find it's way home. That maybe it's a cat that the owner's let in & out regularly. We had a cat like that when I was growing up.
So, we opened the door & out the cat went. It took off across the street into the neighbor's yard, then kept going. We haven't seen it since, so I hope it's ok. Once we let the cat go, our son looked at us & asked if we were going to have to clean the entire house now. You see, my sister is highly allergic to cats & cannot be anywhere near cat hair for even a couple of minutes. Our boy knows this & was worried about his aunt. Totally surprised us all! He showed genuine concern for not just the cat, but for his aunt! What a moment! I had to call his aunt & tell her. She was really touched as she knows how big a step this really is for our Aspie kid. What may seem so small to someone else is major to an Aspie. It's like when they say their 1st word or take a 1st step. Thank you Lord for these moments!!