Three gray Cats and the leaky Pipe of neglect

"I was sitting on the linoleum floor of my apartment trying to fix a leaky pipe under the kitchen sink, even though I didn't have any tools, just a plastic spoon. I pulled out a soggy box of trash bags from the back of the cabinet and there were three small gray cats curled up together in the dust behind the drainpipe. I didn't recognize them, but I had this strange, heavy feeling that they'd been living back there for months and I'd just forgotten to feed them. I felt super guilty, so I went to the pantry to find something for them to eat, but all I had were three unopened cans of tomato soup. When I came back to the sink, the cabinet door was gone and the cats were sitting on top of the refrigerator, completely still, staring down at me with these big round eyes. I tried to reach up and pet one on the chin, but its fur felt like dry wool and it didn't even blink or purr. Then I was suddenly standing out on the back porch in the middle of a light rain, holding a blue plastic laundry basket. One of the gray cats was inside the basket sitting on a pile of wet dishcloths, and I kept trying to cover it with a towel so it wouldn't get wet, but it kept sliding out under my hands. Woke up blinking in the dark, still feeling that weird, quiet guilt and instinctively checking the foot of my bed to see if anything was sleeping there."