Thanks for reassuring me that kidnaping my friend's cat was the right thing to do! No, we are no longer in touch, but not because of the purloined cat incident.

That's a good idea about the e-mail address on the tag - the boyfriend incident happened almost 20 years ago-long before e-mails and cell phones and the like could allow you to be in touch but still anonymous. That was also in the days when I let my cats roam freely. My mama cat is getting less and less inclined to go out, but it may just be because we've had such a long spell of unseasonably cold weather this winter. The other one that goes out rarely leaves the patio, and he's easily spooked back in. In fact, today he got out, saw that the sky had broken to pieces and was falling, (a rare snow shower in North Texas) and ran back in. So, unless spring weather makes Peaches start to miss her street life again, the likelihood of losing a cat for me is extremely small.

Another problem that increases the cat population is abandoned animals. There are still way too many clods and yahoos that think that animals treasure there gonads as much as men do, and absolutely refuse to neuter their animals. My dad, not normally a Neanderthal, was one of these men. Fortunately, in our family, the women have balls as big as the men (don't mean to offend any sensitive readers) so my mom always just ignored him and fixed the animals anyway. There are just as many clods and yahoos who think that since they are animals, dogs and cats can take care of themselves, so when they are no longer wanted they are dumped, usually unfixed. They fail to understand that they have been domesticated for millennia, and are almost as unable to take care of themselves as we are in the wilderness.

Anyway, I'm back on a soapbox, so I'll just get off now!