CATastrophy

So I am cat sitting a co-worker’s aging childhood pet for a few days while she is out of town.  Cleopatra and I were not exactly bonding as she was shy, sleepy and a little off her food.  The second important detail is that the apartment door doesn’t seem to close securely- the wood securing the original deadbolt has been removed giving the sense that the door is never completely shut. 

I was on the fly yesterday afternoon when I opened the door to find a white cat in the hallway.  At first I was a little shocked and then annoyed.  I scooped the indignant and equally surprised animal up and threw it in to the apartment and locked the door.  Although it did cross my mind that this might in fact be “Not Cleopatra”, I dismissed the idea quickly.  I mean there are a LOT of street cats in Alexandria, but what were the chances really.

When I returned to the apartment several hours later I was greeted by an usually alert and affectionate cat clearly obsessed with something under the dining room hutch. Eventually, I got down on my stomach and peered under the hutch; a position that put me eye-to-eye with a second, almost identical, white cat. 

It seemed that I had a case of mistaken cat identity on my hands.  To put it another way- abruptly, without my knowing it, my life had become the plot of a P.G. Woodhouse novel.  I spent the next 40 minutes pretending to watch TV while trying to work out which of the two was the real Cleopatra and which was the imposter: a difficult task given the fact that I had very little contact with the real deal and the cat that I suspected was the genuine article was acting unusually lucid and friendly.

I finally used a lifeline and called a friend.  I had her cross reference my description and a few blurry shots of the likely Cleo with photos from the owner’s Facebook page (see photo).  The loser of this contest got kicked back out into the hall.

Now I am 100%....well, 90% sure that the very hungry and affectionate (not to mention lucid) cat that remains in the apartment is the correct animal.  My only nagging concern is that the two had adult cat relations when they were alone together for the afternoon.  Can an elderly house cat get pregnant? A completely ridiculous thought, but not beyond the realm of possibility in the context of a drama about mistaken cat identity. 

I am not sure how I would explain an unexpected pregnancy to the owner, but I can’t worry about that at the moment.  For now I am trying to remain focused on what to say to this woman if I made the wrong choice in the 50/50 cat selection process.

Fingers crossed.