Beaver finds a very elegant looking long haired cat on his front porch when he comes home from school and brings it up to his room. It turns out the cat is named Bootsie and belongs to Mrs. Prentiss, a neighbor a few streets over who dotes on the cat. Before he returns home, Beaver feeds Bootsie some salmon. It is only after Bootsie returns home with his owner that Ward informs the boys that if you feed a cat it will always come back. And return it does, time after time, looking for another snack. In the meantime, everybody, including Mrs. Prentiss, seems to be tiring of the situation. How will this work out? Watch and find out.
This old story about a cat that's been fed returning may be true for strays, but I doubt it's true of cats that have homes. But even that would be an impossibility if the cat was kept inside most of the time. I guess times have changed and 65 years ago many people were less than one generation removed from life on a farm where cats and dogs commonly ran loose, but today it's a recipe for a short life for the pet if it's left outside.
I like how Beaver and Wally are portrayed as animal lovers in not only this episode but the series, always interested in the welfare of whatever animal crosses their paths.