feline friends

There is a cat named TJ in our neighborhood. We call him Ditto because he looks just like our Sparky. That's how we met him and his people, in fact, one of the kids was carrying him and we though Sparky had gotten out!

A few weeks ago, in some really bad weather late at night, I heard a cat crying outside under our shrubs. I went to see what it was, and it was Ditto. So we took him in for the night and tried to bring him home the next day. His people had gone out of town, so he stayed with us for the weekend. They didn't know he was out and were very glad to see him.

Just a few days ago, Ditto showed up on our steps again. He was rubbing his whole body along Blackie and kept meowing at the door. We let him in and he had a snack and used the litter box and settled in for a nap. He went in and out several times during the next few days, and we let his owners know where he was. They seemed glad to know he was okay, but not terribly concerned that he has two homes now. In fact, he is in my daughter's bedroom right now with Sparky. I think Blackie kind of likes it because he is snuggling me and purring and doesn't have to deal with kittenish pranks.

I don't think of Ditto as ours, but he gets along very well with our boys and is clearly their friend. This seems fairly unusual to me. Does anyone else's cats have friends that are not also housemates?

Sorry, I don't let my guys in and out, so no friends here. That is really neat though. Most of the time, other outdoor cats are considered intruders.

My kitties are also indoor kitties - but Spook, the neighbors cat comes over and they have a talking session through the sliding glass door.... and my dog, Sheba has a little poodle friend that comes to visit when she is on her run.

When I went away to college I had to leave my cat at home. It didn't take long before the cat decided that he liked the neighbors down the road (an elderly couple) better than my house (full of kids). He spent his days at the neighbor's and his nights at home. Finally, the neighbors asked if they could keep him...they obviously loved him and he loved them as well, so they kept him until he died many years later. My parents said that he would visit them at least once or twice a week...he was one lucky cat to have two housefulls of people who loved him so much!

Well, it happened again, I find it so amazing!

I happened to notice Sparky in the bedroom window. He was mewing and purring and chittering in an interested way, like he sometimes does when he wants to know what I'm doing or when he's walking through the house looking for company. My daughter finally came in to ask me about lunch and I said, in a kind of oh-by-the-way tone, "What is that cat looking at out the window?"

L. went over and looked out and exclaimed, "It's Ditto! I'm going to get him." And she was gone before I could stop her. I figured Ditto would take off anyway, so I wasn't too bothered.

Ditto, however, came right into the house and spent the afternoon playing with Sparky. At one point I had all 3 cats in bed with me (I'm having a very bad cold compounded by a urinary tract infection, so today was just too much for me). Blackie was laying on my pillow, and Ditto and Sparky were laying on their sides, legs pointed away from each other, but cheek to cheek with arms around each other's necks. Very cute!

You guys tell me this is quite unusual, but for all the world it was like Sparky seeing a friend outside and bugging us, "Mommy, I want to play with Ditto! Can I please go out? Can he come over?" I can't get the idea out of my head that these cats are buddies.

My kitty, Mandy, doesn't have any kitty friends since there aren't supposed to be ANY cats in this apartment complex. But she does have two human friends. She jumps up into my bedroom window every morning when either of two neighbors leave for work. She can hear when they open their doors to come out and no matter what she might be doing at the time she stops and jumps up into the window. I think it is cute how she does this but don't know what I'll do if/when the apartment owner sees her up there some day.

Sunlion - sounds to me like this is a real friendship!