Danielle found another cat

A friendly gray who was sitting on our porch when Ammu and Meera came to visit. They ate some food. They jumped into her arms. They shivered. They were brought into our guest room.

Thankfully our incumbents didn't notice the foreign presence until after it was gone (and now Simon, Hex, and Howl are alternately sniffing at the closed door--we have to keep that area off limits until we know whether Cat has FIV or any other communicable illness).

Danielle clearly wants to keep them. Her friends Mars and Jay, who are also here, are enamored with them. I feel like a wet blanket, but even if Cat turns out to be clean and unowned, we can't keep them. Something tugs at me that says a friendly presence wouldn't be so bad, but I know that more likely than not it will upset the balance among the five incumbents and possibly cause major issues.

I knocked on our neighbor Patty's door. She had fed The Void back when she was still stray. Apparently Cat was one of six from a litter of 2 grays and 4 voids, including our Void. I'm not sure how reliable her memory was, but generally speaking it would seem there's a household in the apartment building kitty corner from our backyard that does not take cat ownership seriously. The kittens were released at 6 weeks old, Patty said. Again, I don't know how reliable her memory or her estimation is, but people can be cruel sometimes.

Patty said she'd be willing to keep Cat if we needed to give a home. I kind of regret offering this option to her. Danielle is dead-set against it; she's convinced she'd be a bad owner.

For all we know, Cat already has an owner anyway--just one neglectful/unlucky enough to lose their cat in the cold. Jay and Mars are at Petsmart as I speak to check for microchips. They asked for clear instructions on whether to leave them there, but I don't know if we were clear enough. But I think I sufficiently communicated that we would like Cat to remain at Petsmart if possible. That message probably went through. Whether it's feasible is a different story.

Regardless, I feel bad for poor Cat. It's too cold to be outside up here.