Well, this morning we received confirmation of something that Kristi has suspected for some time now. Monkey appears to be in heat.

For those of you who weren’t reading R&K then or just don’t remember, we’ve written about Monkey before. She’s the ubersweet little cat who “belongs” to the neighbors two doors down, but who for all rights and purposes is a stray – and slowly, gradually becoming R&K critter number four. Since the last chapter, Monkey’s practically adopted our back yard as her home, spending all day stalking through the tall grass or begging to be let in the garage for some food. She lives under our next door neighbor’s house, squeezing out into our side yard through a broken access grate near their foundation.

Lately Monkey’s been running around with a grey striped tabby. We’ve seen them together often in the back yard, and Kristi’s sworn up and down that Monkey’s in heat. I still had my doubts, as I associate a cat in heat with loud screeching in the middle of the night, and we haven’t heard that from Monkey.

Until this morning. I went into the kitchen at 6am to make coffee while Kristi showered and got ready for work, and even she could hear it: Monkey howling outside. “Babe – WHAT IS THAT??”, she yells over the sound of the running shower. “It’s Monkey,” I answer. “I TOLD YOU!”, she calls triumphantly.

I took the car today; in about an hour and a half, I’m off to the dentist for the last of my deep cleanings/root planings, so I needed the car and we talked about Monkey on the way to Manteca. Completely irresponsible “owners”. They collar and tag her, but let her run around outside even when it gets below freezing. We’re feeding her. God only knows where she’s getting fresh water from. And apparently they haven’t had her fixed. Does Monkey even have her shots? Who knows. It takes more than a $3 brass tag from Petsmart to be a responsible pet owner, you idiots.

We are *that* close now to scooping Monkey up and getting her into a vet. We can’t have her fixed while she’s in heat, and if she gets pregnant, then that’s it – we’re going to have a bunch of little Monkeys coming along. But she’s going to need shots and a medical checkup and ARGH.. why do dumbass people let their animals run around like that? Some freakin’ responsibility please PEOPLE!

We’ll keep you updated. And no, we’re not calling animal control.

In other news, the annoying Scotty dog from across the street.. Samson’s nemesis, the one that was allowed to just run around the neighborhood, pooping and peeing in our front yard.. he’s apparently gone missing. The other day, Kristi found a Craigslist ad from that neighbor saying that obviously someone stole their beloved, gentle little dog from their yard. Riiiiggghht. We’re thinking it’s more likely that someone put a cap in his ass, called the pound, that he fell afoul of foul play.

I swear to God, your honor, we had nothing to do with it. That dog had enemies.