Posted on 12/06/2013 1:02:06 PM PST by nickcarraway
A few years ago, a large but thin male tomcat showed up at my parents' house. He was very affectionate, and talkative... and really hungry. He was smart to show up at mom and dad's as they were "cat people".
I found it odd that such a affectionate animal would be wandering on walkabout, but even though he was apparently abandoned, I took a picture and made flyers to indicate that he was "found". There were no calls... and so we then put up signs for a free cat, as my parents already had 3 kitties.
"George" (Patton) was taken to the vet for shots and neutering... and a new home was finally found for him about 20 minutes away.
Well I had moved 5 hours away from my parents... but late the following November my dad sent a picture of George standing inside their kitchen at the sliding glass patio door. The caption was "Home for the Holidays".
Apparently, George wasn't happy at his new home as there was all sorta of construction going on, and dogs, goats, and other cats. My dad got a call from someone that lived about 3 miles away saying they saw the flyer in the pharmacy for George (dad never took the sign down) and that that cat on the flyer just showed up at their house.
Dad went over and sure enough it was George... they didn't want him...so dad brought him home... the new owners seemed ambivalent about George running away... and so my Mom and Dad officially took George in.
A friend of mine in my neighborhood worked 6 miles west of here in an old warehouse near the Mississippi River. One day, a young stray grey tabby showed up at the warehouse, and after several days she brought him home to care for him.
After several days at her home (as an inside and outside cat), the tabby cat disappeared. She looked for him for a few days but couldn’t find him, and she figured he’d found a better deal somewhere else in the neighborhood.
Several weeks passed, and the tabby cat showed up back at the warehouse, six miles west, where she originally met him!
I had an orange boy, and that was the case. Isn't it racist, though, to judge cats by the color of their fur?
This kitty needs to be an inside only cat. It’s safer and adds years to his life. My vet said the average outside kitty only lives between 3-6 years, indoor only cats have their lives extended by 5 years or more.
He sure is a handsome guy..always liked orange tabbys,...but today I have a tuxedo cat and my beloved gray “mutt”...a descendant of a long line of alley cats.
I’m fully aware that Dasher would be more safe if he was an inside cat, but Dasher doesn’t know that. All he knows is that he’s been removed from his territory twice, and from living an almost independent existance, he’s now probably going to be locked up with people he would think of as strangers.
He’ll adjust, no doubt. But we never consider the animal’s point of view, do we now?
My black tom that we inherited with the property and who has been lord and master of his two acres and two houses, one with a patio overlooking the pool where he spends his days on the sunlounge...would be distraught if I locked him up. He’s 14 years old now and master of his own destiny.
He comes home for breakfast and dinner, and only sleeps in his own bed in the garden-shed when the weather is foul.
Same thing here. We had a beautiful white stray with jade green eyes come up to our house. We were able to catch her and make her an inside only cat. She cried and howled at any door for months. She wanted out and made sure we all knew it. Little by little the howling lessened and she settled into her new digs. She graced our home from 1994-2010. Ocular cancer, the feline equivalent of dementia (she would get lost in a corner and cry for someone to find her), and kidney failure prompted us to do what was best for her. Letting go hurt, but not as much as her suffering.
He actually escaped out the door! :)
Lol! Cats don’t forget!
This is funny, but so not true. I’m the owner and he got out. Can’t have to stay inside for weeks if not months. But if they escape, what can you do?
Do you mean you are the owner of Dasher?
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