Misty Mouser

Misty Mouser hangs out in the shade and makes sure I'm doing my job. When the guys take break she'll be the first one on scene to find their scraps.

Misty Mouser became Lost Lover.

Lost Lover

Truly one of the friendliest cats I've met on a job site. She would frequently come over and ask for scraps from the guys' lunches. A local resident said he was her caretaker, and she spent long hours sitting outside his house in a small patch of shade. After a couple weeks I noticed she wasn't there and I assumed incorrectly that she was inside the house. No, she had wandered around the corner and up the block to have kittens. She was hiding them in an old discarded baby stroller. Though she was cautious, she was still friendly but sadly looked very malnourished. That guy was no longer leaving food outside for her. I bought food to give to her and hoped she could find enough scraps around to sustain herself and kittens.

I hadn't seen her, nor her kittens as frequently as before. I saw her once last week, maybe twice the week before. I'm not sure if they were still around or if she had moved the kittens, or if they were big enough now that they wandered off elsewhere. She was skinny and looking rough the last time I saw her.

This morning I found her dead near the sidewalk, not far from the man's house who used to feed her. She had a bad head injury so she either was struck by a vehicle or... Something less accidental. 

I'm glad she had the joy of kittens. I'm glad I got to pet her and give her some affection while she was here. The crew let me bury her in the trench. 

Rest in peace Lost Lover. 

We Are Family

This momma cat and her babies apparently belong to a human woman who may, or may not be, currently incarcerated. The residents on this project site suspect the reason she's been neglecting her kitties is because she is currently "missing" from the block. Momma cat roams all over looking for discarded chicken wings and potable water for her 2 little kittens. The one is a scrapper and I think will be OK. The other is frightened of going near people, which means he isn't near garbage, which means he's not eating food, seemingly relying on momma for milk. She's getting thinner with each day so he better start showing off his little face.

Some of you may be asking, well where is the father in all of this mess?! When I approached the tomcat about leaving his kids and babymomma to go hungry he turned and walked off, refusing to let me get his face on camera.

Apparently it's a North Philly thing and I just wouldn't understand.

Looky Lou

You can look but you can't touch. Lou loves to meow for attention and food. He rolls around teasing the hopeful cat person with glimpses of an inviting soft belly to rub. I'll never know. You'll never know. Lou keeps his distance from all two-legged beings. I don't blame him. This neighborhood is disgusting and I might fail a drug test just from breathing here for multiple work days. 

Jack

 This is Jack. Yes, as in "the ripper." This cat cleverly worked the system. We were building a trench for a storm water management project and one of the neighbors would routinely come out to toss broken bread for the pigeons in the nearby park. This cat waited patiently behind a shed until the guy was gone and the birds were busy feasting. Jack would race out, snag his victim, and dash off around the corner. We saw him do this a few times so I know he was quite familiar with the schedule of events. Talk about a smart kitty! To this day I have no idea if the bread tosser knows he baits pigeons to their deaths...

Bonsai

 This tuxedo man might be the bravest cat I've ever met. It didn't matter if we were sawing pipe, breaking pavement, or scraping piles of muck from the sidewalk, this dude wanted to be where the action was. He got part of my lunch on more than one occasion and was incredibly friendly. Even a few of the non cat lovers were won over by this handsome character.

Smoky

My mom named this one Smoky. I was handing out water shut off notices to his neighbor when he caught my eye. He is a little guy but not timid of a stranger whipping out a camera to snap his photo.