On interacting with the animal kingdom rhymeswithplague-style

Kylie in Australia recently acquired a second dog and has blogged about it in a post entitled "Am I Mad?". The jury is still out but I left the following comment:

Re "Am I Mad?": Probably.

In addition to our Abby, our nearly three-year-old rescue chihuahua-terrier mix, we have now also been unofficially adopted by one of the neighborhood cats, not feral exactly but not tame either. He/She is a grey tabby who sleeps on our patio doormat for hours on end, drinks water I have begun setting out, and enjoys stretching out in the shade of our patio table's umbrella. He/She also seems to want to get to know Abby better and the feeling is mutual. I haven't fed him/her yet even though either God or Satan (possibly both) continues to work on me by recalling to my mind scripture verses such as if you give a cup of cold water in His name you will not lose your reward and the one I'm resisting to date about not being forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware.

To recap, I say probably for you, definitely for me.

So while I do not have 2.3 children living at my house, I do seem to have 1.5 pets at the moment. Mrs. RWP is not a cat person basically. I grew up with three male dogs (Tippy, Sandy, Frisky) and a male orange tabby that outlived them all.

Abby has proven expensive of late with vet bills since the first of the month of $59.35, $76.64, and $96.63 (all USD). I don't begrudge the money as she is a member of the household, but I am not, how you say, eager to add feline expenses to the mix as we are definitely on a fixed income.

Your comments and advice are always welcome.