Sophie is about 6 1/2 pounds. She's an outdoor cat and spends all of the afternoon in the neighborhood, on her own. Our street is quiet but still urban. There are a lot of people who come down our street, because it's a little bit more gentle than some of the other areas. Except for the vulgar utility poles, there is nothing wrong with it. Since there are only six houses on our street, Sophie is one of the main attractions.
She is sort of an urban icon. What I mean by that, is that there are a number of people in the neighborhood, strangers actually, who have a strong relationship with our cat. They come by often to touch base with her. They reach out to Sophie, even if it's only for a second. They look out for her safety.
At one time Sophie had a brother, Leo. Leo died but his name tag is still with us. Sophie lost her name tag years ago, so we replaced it with Leo's. It has our telephone number on it and that's the only reason we gave it to her.
Now my wife and I get calls from people on cell phones telling us our cat, Leo, is lost. "Do you realize this?” they tell us. A lot of the time, we can just look out our living room window, which is only about 7 feet from the sidewalk, and see who is making the call. We tell them it's OK, she's an outdoor cat, and she's not lost.
We have people knocking on our door telling us our cat wants to come in. I get the sense that these people believe we are abusing our animal.
In any event, someone is now feeding our cat. They have taken it upon themselves to take care of our animal. They leave cat food on the sidewalk. I saw this for the first time just last week. Sophie was eating it. She looked a little embarrassed, though it's hard to tell. Again in any event, someone now feels they own our cat. Maybe even a whole group of people have taken ownership of our cat.
This happens a lot in public spaces.
I've made presentations to community groups, presenting design ideas for buildings in their neighborhood and it's obvious to all of us that I don't own the property - and I'm fine with that - but then, the owner doesn't even own the property. The neighbors own the property and they're going to tell us exactly what to do with it.
I don't blame them at all. This is about their respect for the Public Realm. And that's my job, too, by the way, to strengthen the Public Realm.
But to get back to the cat. I'm concerned that she may gain weight. I have to keep a lookout in the neighborhood for extra cans of food on the sidewalk. These people have no right to interfere with how I care for my cat.