Hello Reddit. Meet the lad I call Streets. I live in a suburb in the ATL area and for some reason, this suburb seems to have at least 4 stray cats that just kinda walk around the neighborhood. I've never had one approach my home but about a week and a half ago, I walked out onto my front porch and sure enough, there's a cat sitting on the couch that sits on the porch. I've had a few animals in my life, one of them a cat named Cheddar (best boi), an orange single brain cell variety of cat. I dearly miss Cheddar as well as my velvet hippo named Mercy. I lost both of them in a very ugly divorce.
That said, I don't believe in watching any living thing suffer, in any way. Until a couple of days ago I was in a relationship with someone that may have let me wear her down enough to let me take Streets to the new place we were planning to move to. That changed just about 48 hours ago when this happened: https://www.reddit.com/r/BoyDinnerDiaries/comments/1xthfns/moved_across_country_for_her_and_she_was_arrested/
I'm not quite sure when I have to leave, but I do. I'd love to have the opportunity to take Streets in but where I'm going to be forced to go, I don't think I could take a cat with me, which is a shame because he's a beautiful, gentle boy. When I found him chilling on the couch, I sat next to him and waited to see if he'd move closer. He did eventually get a bit curious and moved over a smidge, which is when I pet him a bit on the head. He didn't purr or lean into the pets but he didn't claw my face off either. This would be the start of a nice little friendship.
The next day, Streets is still on the couch. My ex-gf said maybe he's thirsty, so I got a bowl of water and placed it on the porch. Dude was definitely thirsty as hell. He drank water for at least 5 minutes, long enough for me to smoke a cigarette and go back in. Later that night, feeling a bit sad for some reason, not being able to sleep, I went back out and sure enough - there's Streets, still chilling. This was maybe.....9 days ago. I fed him SOMETHING, though I can't remember what. We don't cook much and I don't have much in the house that a cat might eat but whatever it was, he ate it up. After he was done eating, he came back up on the couch next to me and Streets and I watched the stars for about an hour while I pet him. This time though, he did sort of lean into the pets. It's starting to get coldish in the ATL area and his paws felt cold, so I picked him up and put him on my lap to see if I could warm him up a bit. He chilled on my lap until I needed to go back in, about an hour later.
The next day, going to work in the morning, I see that Streets is gone. I was kinda bummed but strays move around. I noticed that whatever the rest of what I fed him was gone completely which made me pretty happy. My ex gf noticed that he wasn't gone, he was just behind the couch now, maybe hiding from the sun. Maybe hiding from other cats or dogs. The night before, I noticed, that every time a random dog in the neighborhood would bark, he would get tense. I definitely paid attention to this, wondering if there were other predators in the neighborhood but I hadn't seen anything and I've been here a few months.
The following days I would go out, change the water, feed him whatever I had around and wondered if he'd wander off again. He's not left since I put the water out though. He's been incredibly gentle and doesn't seem like an old cat, maybe just an old soul. He seems like a good boi and is the kind of cat I would absolutely love to have in my life but I'm unable to bring him along to where I'm going because ultimately, I'm unsure where I'm going. I know how the CDS works and I feel like he was put there for me, but I can't be homeless in ATL with a cat. Maybe a dog, but I'm unsure a cat would work. I think he'd be a great addition to anyone's menagerie and I know it's supposed to freeze this weekend so I'm concerned about him. I don't want to take him to a shelter because I know sometimes the shelters aren't no-kill and he's survived the streets this long, maybe he would do okay and find a warmer place if it does actually freeze. I'd bring him inside but this isn't my house, I can't, though I've asked neighbors and neither will they.
He's a good cat. I've spent hours looking at him in his eyes, petting him, wishing I could do more for him. Last night I defrosted some chicken thighs and fed him some of them to try and get him a bit fatter just in case it does get extremely cold this weekend and weekends after. I'm hoping the CDS can help me out here and find him a good home. I'm in the northern part of ATL (in the burbs) in a city called Buford. I'm going to crosspost this to those subreddits as well in the hopes that he can find a forever home.
He's a survivor, just like me and I think he just needs a little love. When I pet him now, he purrs. I was going to give him a bath today but it's been too cold during the day that I wouldn't want him to get too cold. I left my snowboard coat out there on one of the nights just so he could have some insulation.
Someone help this awesome cat, please. I would if I could. DM me and I'll shoot you my info and hopefully you can fill a cat void in your heart with Streets.
Thank you all. My apologies if this violates the rules. This is important to me so I wanted to make sure I took the time to properly introduce him. I just know he'd be a lovely lad to have in your home.
BIG EDIT: I am willing to help get the new owner food, vaccinations, whatever a few hundred dollars would buy. I'll pay for it, no problem. I would obviously take him with me if I could. It's only been a few days but I'm already feeling the love. It breaks my heart to think of him outside, cold af, without me being able to do anything. If anyone knows how to build a temp shelter for him, I can do that. I just can't bring him in the house as it's not my home.