On Super Bowl Sunday, 2005, I trapped a cat on my front porch. I'd been feeding him for a couple of weeks, and fearing "it" might be pregnant, I decided to trap, neuter, rabies and release the cat, as "it" was otherwise wild.
The next morning I took the very disgruntled kitty to the vet and asked them to either spay or neuter "it" as I was unable to see what exactly I'd caught. A couple of hours later, I got a call from the vet tech. "It's a boy!" she said, with a big laugh.
The next day I let "Felix" out of the trap and he ran across the road. But he kept returning for feeding.
One of the first photos we got of him, taken around April 2005:
I kept working with him, slowly...on his terms. Each evening I'd sit on the front porch and toss kibble to him and inch him closer and closer each night. Oh, he'd hiss and fuss, but he was hungry, so he'd come closer. By August, Felix was doing this (but only for me and only for a moment before getting "spooked" and running.):
Each night I'd lie in bed and literally "will" him to stay safe, and out of the road. I would go nuts with worry each time I heard a car drive by. In November, that all changed when I came downstairs and my hub said that Felix hadn't shown up to eat breakfast. I was almost hysterical and began looking and clapping for him. As my daughter left for school, I found him, under a shrub in my front yard, as still as a mouse. Something was VERY WRONG.
I called the vet and said I was coming in and then grabbed a carrier and eased Felix out from under that shrub, not knowing what was wrong and knowing he might bite me out of fear or pain. He didn't, though.
At the vet's it was determined that something was wrong with his balance, perhaps from a blow to the head (I suspect he fell out of the tree out front where he liked to hang). He was medicated and I was told to keep him indoors to heal. With those words, he became OUR cat.
He took the indoors like a duck to water and soon we installed the cat proofing in the backyard and he began his new, indoor/outdoor/spoiled life. LOL Here he is from 2006, snuggling with his Meowmy:
Felix has become our "Cuddler in Chief" and the easiest of our crew to "do stuff to." He is still very cautious around strangers but is very loving to those he knows well. I'm so glad I took a chance with this boy!
Happy Gotcha Day, Mr Felix!
My fave photo of him:
The next morning I took the very disgruntled kitty to the vet and asked them to either spay or neuter "it" as I was unable to see what exactly I'd caught. A couple of hours later, I got a call from the vet tech. "It's a boy!" she said, with a big laugh.
The next day I let "Felix" out of the trap and he ran across the road. But he kept returning for feeding.
One of the first photos we got of him, taken around April 2005:
I kept working with him, slowly...on his terms. Each evening I'd sit on the front porch and toss kibble to him and inch him closer and closer each night. Oh, he'd hiss and fuss, but he was hungry, so he'd come closer. By August, Felix was doing this (but only for me and only for a moment before getting "spooked" and running.):
Each night I'd lie in bed and literally "will" him to stay safe, and out of the road. I would go nuts with worry each time I heard a car drive by. In November, that all changed when I came downstairs and my hub said that Felix hadn't shown up to eat breakfast. I was almost hysterical and began looking and clapping for him. As my daughter left for school, I found him, under a shrub in my front yard, as still as a mouse. Something was VERY WRONG.
I called the vet and said I was coming in and then grabbed a carrier and eased Felix out from under that shrub, not knowing what was wrong and knowing he might bite me out of fear or pain. He didn't, though.
At the vet's it was determined that something was wrong with his balance, perhaps from a blow to the head (I suspect he fell out of the tree out front where he liked to hang). He was medicated and I was told to keep him indoors to heal. With those words, he became OUR cat.
He took the indoors like a duck to water and soon we installed the cat proofing in the backyard and he began his new, indoor/outdoor/spoiled life. LOL Here he is from 2006, snuggling with his Meowmy:
Felix has become our "Cuddler in Chief" and the easiest of our crew to "do stuff to." He is still very cautious around strangers but is very loving to those he knows well. I'm so glad I took a chance with this boy!
Happy Gotcha Day, Mr Felix!
My fave photo of him:
