They do look more brown than red to me, and that’s just how Georgia does eyes. Look at all the other characters’ eyes. None of them have an iris or pupil either.
Take a look at today’s strip (June 26). It shows a closeup of the kennel. The top is definitely solid, not “open like a playpen.” The strange woman also talks to Sophie like she intends for the crate to be Sophie’s permanent home, and not a temporary thing.
I forgot to mention that the cost of the crate Bea found is also extremely high. The most expensive crate I could find was less than $200. The crate Sophie’s in is practically $400. That alone indicates that the stranger couple are well off.
June 5: The woman immediately assumed that Sophie was “All alone in the world!”
June 6: The woman hugs a protesting Sophie, puts her in the car and drives off without even knocking on any doors to ask about her.
Taken together, it’s clear that the stranger woman is clueless about animals and doesn’t think about anyone but what she wants to believe.
June 21: Chitter and Chatter report that Sophie is in a “VERY nice house on the edge of town!”
June 22: Chitter and Chatter continue their report, informing the others that Sophie’s in a “gorgeous house with a CRAZY security system.”
Now, I don’t know about you, but a “gorgeous house with a CRAZY security system.” sounds like the home of someone who is relatively well off. Upper middle class at a minimum.
June 24: While we may only see a small part of the room where those people are keeping Sophie, the furnishings we do see are pristine white and the room looks unlived in.
June 25: As for the crate, let’s look at what Bea found on the internet. It does not have an open top. Such crates have screen doors that blend into the sides and the closest I could find to the crate Sophie’s in has a screen panel in the top. I’d also like to point out that the top isn’t high enough to keep Sophie inside if it were open like a playpen (note: I’ve actually put cats inside a child’s playpen and they leapt out easily). Sophie’s front feet may have been “declawed,” but she can still leap that distance. Given how scared she looks, if the top were open, she would be out of there in a flash and hiding under the couch or some other piece of furniture. With those screen sides, she’s exposed.
I’m sure she has no clue about how to care for a pet.