One part of living in Mexico really drives me nuts. There are unwanted cats and dogs all over. They are diseased, dirty, hungry and miserable. The small towns seem to have the biggest problems. It breaks my heart to see them suffering and the problem seems so overwhelming that I don’t feel that I can even start to make a dent in fixing it.

There is one exception. There is the cutest little homeless kitten living in a construction site at the top of our dock. She appears to be about 3 months old and luckily, appears to be healthy and happy.

We talked with a local animal welfare group to see what could be done to help her out. The recommended trapping her and bringing her to the vet for a free spay, deworming and rabbies vaccination. I asked what happens after that. They said that she just goes back to where she was. That solves the problem of having masses of future kittens running around but does it keep her happy? She seems to be happy right now and she doesn’t really seem to need the food that I offer her (we’ve seen her hunting down and feasting on cockroaches).

Although she was shy when she first showed up, she would cry as we walked past. Within a few days we started to make friends with her and now can scratch her behind the ears and cuddle with her. So I guess trapping her isn’t needed! I can just pick her up and put her into the cat carrier. We’ll wait for a month or so until she is big enough to be spayed and then will get her over to the vet. We’re still hoping to find a home for her so that she doesn’t have to exist on cockroaches and the kindness of strangers. I wish we could take her in but two cats are enough on a boat.

If there is anyone in the area that wants to offer this kitten a home, please let me know. She's very affectionate and purrs up a storm. She's got very short, soft fur.