Nature's Little Therapists

I've had a really frustrating morning at work with a combination of stress including the logistical nightmare of my current task at hand, the non-stop questions about H1N1 and the seasonal flu vaccine, a brand new computer requiring fresh installations of EVERYTHING, frustration about men and killer PMS to top it all off.

By the time noon rolled around I was well overdue for a break, but I traded reception relief with a coworker yesterday, so had to cover her's today. By the time 1 pm rolled around, I would have gladly ripped off anyone's head and shoved it up their rear.

When I finally made it out of the office I was past the point of being simply frustrated, and was simply just ready to sit down and have an hour long cry, so when I got in front of my apartment complex I sat down and lit a cigarette to calm down.

This little orange and white cat pops his head around the corner of the complex, and starts towards me. Like most cats, he plays aloof and skittish, and when I turn to actually look at him, he starts and changes direction. I picked up a little bundle of grass and started idly twirling it between my fingers and within 5 minutes he was rubbing himself all over me, climbing into my lap, purring happily. At that point, it's hard to be mad at pretty much anything.

I checked him out for a tattoo or a collar, and saw nothing identifying except protruding ribs, hips and spine and a few scars around his face and ears. He was maybe all of 8 or 9 months, clearly going through his gangly 'teenager' stage, and back in my memory I recalled a little orange and white kitten hanging with the dumpster cats of last winter. Most of them seem to have moved on or passed on, but periodically I still see this little survivor hanging out on top of the dumpster cleaning himself off after a filling meal of garbage and rotting leftovers.

My heart broke for him so I picked him up and carried him upstairs to my apartment. He cried and his pupils grew 3 times their normal size -- it was so apparent that this cat had never seen the interior of a people occupied building, and the noises, smells and acoustics seemed to unnerve him to his very core.

When I got him inside the apartment, I set him down in the living room so he could familiarize himself and filled up a bowl full of food and another full of fresh water.

While he was still pretty timid and unsure of me moving quickly, he ate 3/4 of the bowl of food, drank half the water, laid down for a snooze and then shortly before I had to leave to go back to work, went and stood by the patio door looking outside, which I took to mean he was ready to leave, too. I let him outside, said my goodbye and went back to work, but I'm sure I'll see him again soon.

So just in case anyone is looking for a young male cat -- keep it in mind.