For a few months now, a scraggly old Himalayan tomcat has taken up residence on our front porch eating our food, leaving and coming back injured, staying long enough to heal its wounds. The first time he appeared in our backyard, his eye was injured and he wouldn't let us get close. He ate from our 24/7 outdoor cat buffet at will and laid around in the sun and hiding under one of our buildings when we would step outside. Each time we saw him he looked worse than before with matted fur.
For the cold winter nights I placed a cat carrier full of cozy soft warm blankets on our porch swing for our own cats, plus lined a chair with a pillow covered with soft warm blankets. I kept the blankets clean and washed them regularly because I know that our cats won't lay on dirty fur covered blankets. One day I saw that old Himalayan cat with his squished up face laying in the pillow lined chair right next to our front door. Each time we approached our front door to go out or come in, he would run away, so before long he started hiding in the cat carrier. Jimmy and Brian tried to tame the cat down so that we might be able to get close enough to him to clip some of that matted hair. He had gotten so matted that he had extra tails hanging around and the biggest hump on his lower back that we had ever seen. All the neighbors knew him as that old cat with the big hump and we would ask if anyone knew where he came from? We referred to him as the old daddy cat.
Do you know why we called him the old daddy cat? Because a year ago last May a little gray feral cat who visited our yard gave birth to a gray and white kitten, a beautiful Himalayan one and to a Siamese kitten. So naturally when the ratty old Himalayan wandered into our yard, we thought AH HA that must be the dad!
So in the last couple of weeks I sometimes ventured out onto the front porch armed with a pair of scissors hoping that the old daddy cat would come just a little closer and stand a little still-er, but he never did. He got so that he would wrap himself around my legs, but he wouldn't let me touch him. Every morning we had a fur covered stoop right outside our front door and I really didn't like him rubbing up against my legs. I just didn't know what he was carrying in all that matted mess.
Enough was enough and this cat seemed to be staying around almost full time so I talked with someone at the vets office and asked them if perhaps they had a knockout pill so that Jimmy and I could cut the mats out. They said that they would clip him for us and to just bring him with Princess as soon as we could trap him. The trapping was easy. Brian put the door back on the carrier, and this morning I closed it while the cat was asleep and off to the vet we went. All we asked was that the cat also be vaccinated.
Jimmy had an appointment with his oncologist, followed by a late lunch with Ron and then it was off to get the old daddy cat, which Brian had named Hemi. When we walked in Myrtle and Regina had smirky smiles on their faces like they knew something. We asked how it turned out and they all laughed, including the vet, and they said, "old daddy cat is a girl!"
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Correction to the story: Brian did not name this cat Hemi. It was another cat who looked just like old daddy cat without the squished face. I don't know if I will be able to call this cat anything but old daddy cat, but we will have to come up with a different name, now that he is a girl, LOL
Ps....someone had previously fixed her, and today she also got her nails clipped, a bath, flea treatment and her 4 teeth fell out. She also had two wounds that were also cleaned out and treated, and of course she came home with medications. She went back home once we released her, but we hope that she comes back for her medications. Also she is a VERY OLD cat.
Good Morning
Good Evening Dennis
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