The Windowsill: #1

Anyone who travels to Italy has seen a stray cat or dog wandering city streets or in the countryside. I know that many of us have the urge to want to offer food, a caressing hand, or even want to take him or her home. Judging from the plethora of videos online capturing just that, it happens more often than we think. And, yes, it warms the heart.

A few years ago, I became a member of ENPA, the Italian equivalent of the SPCA. What pushed me to do it was the number of stray cats I was feeding scattered in and around the old city center. Once I started making the rounds and identifying where they generally lived, I began bringing dry and wet food and filling bowls that I'd find. For me, that was a sign that other locals were doing the very same. And once you start looking, you start seeing cats everywhere. It's a reminder that many don't get sterilized and the cat population explodes. I constantly see posts from local associations urging people to sterilize because local shelters simply can't handle the numbers.

I met Lapone (a named used often in Tuscany) in the autumn of 2023 in a square that's essentially a freeway because there's so much traffic. As I was walking, he came running up to me. I approached slowly but he accepted my caresses and fell at my feet. I saw that someone in a nearby building was feeding him. I began to bring him food, leaving it on ledges and tucked in corners where I could get to it yet have some privacy. I became friends with another woman who gave him his name and looked after him. Lapo literally lives right outside her window and she could keep an eye on him. We both wanted to bring Lapo home though we both had our own rescue cats. My affectionate, though independently minded, senior cat originally hails from a feline colony near Lake Como and insists on her space. You could see that Lapo's often been to battle. He's really a tomcat. His flattened nose bears numerous scratches. After not seeing him for several days, I'd find a fresh puncture wound on his body. His world was one of a tomcat, constantly on the prowl seeking out adversaries and females in heat.

Most times when I go to check on him, he'll run out from under a hedge that skirts a busy parking lot asking for food and caresses. There were a few bowls in his little corner, sometimes we'd find them next to a grocery store so we knew there were others feeding him. We were constantly concerned for his safety knowing that cats living in the city constantly dodge traffic. And some meet a cruel end. The first time I witnessed a cat get hit was devastating and I sobbed afterwards. I remember the man getting out of his car to check on the cat, a male tabby, and he was crying, too. Someone called a local vet who came immediately and took the cat away to see if he could save him.

Lapone, though, survives. Our organization encourages that people who find strays to take them to be sterilized, which is free here, at least in my area of Tuscany as a way to keep the cat population under control. Though it wasn't easy, I took Lapo to get sterilized and for a full-check enlisting my husband to somehow get him into the cage to transport him to the local shelter in the hills, actually a beautiful location with a massive area for canines. It was traumatic for Lapo but he came back with a clean bill of health though has dermatitis which we treat with ointment. Our local chapter is pro-active and when he's needed anti-flea treatment I was able to get that for free. Post-sterilization, Lapo returned to his “home,” which ENPA insists on. We somehow managed to steer him away from circling the parking lot to a nearby vegetable garden where another cat-lover furnished him with a bed inside a small shed. In reality, she had met Lapo long before I did, and we consider her his primary human. As she's on a fixed income and lives in popular housing, I supply her with cat food as needed. In turn, she gives me fresh garden herbs and vegetables, flowers and eggs. Her generosity's a reminder that often those with less give the most. Really, a life lesson for all us.

Lapone, and other cats that I check in on are well and live on. Newcomers arrive and only a few weeks ago, I learned of a few beautiful grey and white cats living in the garden of an abandoned villa near a busy corner. I pass by when I can and see that they're watered and fed, sometimes poking my hand through the rusted metal gate to leave a handful of dry food.

May Lapone, and all of the felines who are equally entitled to reside in our city, stay well and live on.