When we moved into our little place, we noticed right away that our block has been designated a cat zone. Unlike nearby blocks that feature massive dogs jumping at you through the fence, our block always has a few cats lounging on the stoops, hiding under cars or snoozing in flower boxes.

A couple of the neighborhood cats came by to check out the new tenants and to have a sip of water out of our pond, but most were a bit skittish. A well-fed looking black cat was especially curious. He was much bolder than the other cats, walking into the house like he owned the place, meowing loudly at us.

He kept coming by and became more brazen – venturing onto the couch, sitting on our laps, generally just being cute and cuddly. If we’d closed the door and he wanted to come in, he would sit outside in the dark and meow until we let him in – usually all we could see in the dark were his little white fangs. As he started spending more time with us, we asked around the neighbors to see if he belonged to anyone – we didn’t want to be rude and monopolize someone else’s cat’s affections! We never did find out where he lived, but he obviously was getting fed somewhere – we only give him attention and the occasional tinfoil ball to play with. though he never stops trying to weasel some tuna out of us! We started calling him Fang, which stuck. Anyways, it’s nice to have a (not so) little furball hanging around again! And having a rent-a-cat is a good deal, since we don’t have to worry about what to do with him when we travel – he fits in with our ‘lock-up-and-go’ lifestyle well.

Fang making himself comfortable in the laundry basket

Nick working, Fang napping