stray cat

During a journey through towns and villages on the road back to the coast from Marjayoun, most places showed no signs of life: no vehicles, no people, only a single stray cat streaking across the road.

"So we do think it's actually a stray cat, possibly a farm cat," she said.

The overcrowded and unsafe conditions of animal shelters are the topic of several Senate and Assembly bills aiming to improve conditions in California’s animal facilities and curb the stray cat and dog population.

Nguyen says this has hampered efforts for “trap-neuter-return” programs carried out by shelters to get stray cat populations in check.

She feeds Murka, the stray cat Valeriy once loved to photograph, and there is the gardening to distract her when everything gets too much.