Cat Hoarders ?

My parents, Randy & Daisy, are still alive and kicking. They live on about 40 acres in the heart of south central Kentucky – so beautiful! My Dad made the lawn look like a park, leaving trees and flowering plants but nurturing the grassy knolls in and around everything. There is a HUGE old barn, and a log cabin, which my parents restored and now live in. Talk about picturesque! And you should see it in the Fall! They are retired and almost self sufficient. We were ‘green’ before anyone else was. The last time I was back for a visit I went in October, when the humidity and the bugs were both at minimal numbers. There is something comforting about falling asleep in your mama’s house, and the sleep on that first night there is always fantastic! I woke up the next morning and my Dad had made coffee, so we sat at the table and visited while my Mom made breakfast; I felt like I was 12 again! While I was sitting there, looking out the big window by the table, I saw a couple of cats stroll out of the barn and up on the porch. My family has always been cat lovers, so no surprise there. But when I looked out the window a few moments later, there were 5 cats on the porch and 2 more in the yard. The hair on the back of my neck stood up as I watched more and more cats appear, all headed for the front porch. And all the while my Dad was talking and laughing, seemingly oblivious to ‘The Cats’ that were silently stalking the house! Suddenly one of the cats jumped up on the window sill, then another, then another until 4 cats were perched there, staring intently inside, not blinking or moving. ‘Dad!’ I said ‘Get the gun – a herd of cats has surrounded the house!’ I kept thinking of that old movie about the birds – yikes! Dad turned around and looked outside. ‘Uh-oh, Mama, we better feed them babies!’ he said and opened the front door. Immediately a fuzzy wave of felines oozed inside, and my Dad grabbed a bag of cat food and started shoo-ing them back out with his feet while they rubbed against his legs, walked between his legs, climbed his legs, sharpened their claws on his legs.. I gotta tell you, I was a little freaked out. My Mom began to call them by their names, and tell me their medical history. Evidently they are free range cats, but have all signed up on the Lytle Health Plan so they are all fixed, cleaned, de-wormed, flea bathed, and whatever else the local vet can think of for my soft hearted parents to do for their little fuzzy friends. My Mom says more and more show up each year ‘It’s like they know they’ll be safe here.’ More like the locals ‘know’ where they can dump cats now that my parents have opened a Sanctuary. Any hoo, they weren’t keen on strangers, so I was unmolested during my visit – creeped out, but unmolested nonetheless. A cat here and there is fine – but when there are so many of them that they develop a collective consciousness, that’s when I make travel plans!