Little Dogs and Alley Cats

As of today, I have been in Beijing for one month. I have finally found a new way to blog, as my much-loved livejournal is inaccessible from behind the Great Firewall of China. Thus, I have put a lot of time and thought into deciding about what my first blog post should be. Traffic? Pollution? International relations? Food? Amusing stories about the daily trials of living in a country where you barely speak the language? Ah, but no. Today's post is about cats and dogs.
First, dogs. I will admit that the past few weeks were particularly cold, but it still seems that the number of dogs in sweaters was disproportionately high. I even saw one dog wearing what appeared to be a shirt and overalls. I'm sure it was in fact a cleverly designed onesie, along the lines of the one piece shirt-under-sweater concept, but the question remains: was such cleverness really warranted on doggie clothes? Is there canine haute couture? Furthermore, every dog I've seen is tiny. Not even just small, but true little run-while-you-walk, ankle height dogs. Perhaps it is because this is a city, and people do not have the space for larger dogs, but I rather miss seeing big dogs. And this from a girl who was terrified of big dogs for the first decade or so of her life.
Cats, on the other hand, are much safer. Their biggest threat is cat scratch fever, which never seemed particularly intimidating. Oh, I'm sure my sister the vet could give us a litany of terrible diseases one can get from a cat, but most cats seem benign. I've never wished a cat ill, until the past week here.
I live on the sixth floor of a dormitory on a quiet side street in the Xicheng district of Beijing. In front of the dorm is an elementary school; behind the dorm is a college. Between the college and the back of my building is a little alley, and this is where the Alley Cat lives.
The Alley Cat seems to be alone for the most part, and I don't think I've ever heard a more miserable-sounding creature. S/he's mostly quiet during the day, but come evening and the pitiful cries begin. For the first few nights, I wasn't sure if it was a cat or an unhappy baby. On the way back from dinner last week, I caught a glimpse of the Alley Cat climbing across the low roof of the next-door building. Judging from the ragged appearance, I'd guess Alley Cat was a stray, but I suppose s/he could be someone's pet. Alley Cat is a yellow tiger in coloring and rather reminds me of our cat Tiger from way back when. I thought the Alley Cat was undisputed Master of All, until the wee hours of Monday morning. At about 3 am, I was awoken by a sound I know all too well from the confrontations between my cats at home -- Cat War. Hissing, yowling, growling, and generally the sense that a fight is about to go down that makes the Spartans in 300 look like sissies. I put my earplugs in and went back to sleep, only a little worried for Alley Cat. As it turns out, I didn't even need to worry at all -- Alley Cat was slinking about the scraggly bushes the next morning as I walked to class.