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PEadmin
 Nov 7, 06 - 10:07 AM |
Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul
Okay...I'll go first. About 10 months ago, a rather large, gorgeous long hair tabby showed up in my barn. He wasn't the usual looking stray; he showed no signs of being hungry (for sure at 30 pounds) or tattered looking. This looked to be someone's pampered lap cat. He found out that my place is an all-you-can-eat buffet and decided he wasn't going back home. All of my cats are spayed/neutered, so I really didn't think there was much harm in him other than he was eating by himself as much as the other 5 combined. I asked around at the neighbors...nope, not theirs. I kept an eye out for flyers for missing cats...nothing. He started 'picking on' my male cat (who has no I teeth as the result of an unfortunate incident with a yearling colts hoof) and more than once I tried to catch him to cart him off to the Humane Society. Any other time under your feet, this cat instinctively knew when to duck out for a day until I had forgotten his ugly behavior. Some time this summer I had an epiphany. The next country road over, there was an 84 year old woman whose house burnt to the ground around Christmas last year. How could I have not thought about this being her cat? Surely she thought he had died in the fire, and he had no where to go. Totally excited to reunite her with what I just knew was her cat I contacted her. She said none of hers matched the description, but came to look and maybe adopt him anyhow. Of course...he was nowhere to be found. It was around this same time I finally noticed this cat was neutered. Months passed. Squabbles in the barn became more frequent. About two weeks ago my husband came in from the barn declaring that was "IT!". Sometime in the night the fat cat had beaten up my poor, half-toothless, outweighed Tommyboy. His eye was swollen shut. What to do. If I stick an ad in the paper, it'll be a week before it gets out. If I take him to the Humane Society, the oldest cat will be euthanized to make room for this one. My gut was churning with what to do. I decided to take a long hot bath and think it over. That's when it came to me; Freecycle! (Freecycle is a Yahoo group that has groups in nearly every county across the states, and you can post anything you have that is still usable that is free) I quickly logged in and listed the cat with the explanation that there was nothing wrong with this cat other than his opponent has been here for 8 years and so he has to be the one to go. I live close to two other counties and so I listed him on all three. Within an hour I received a rather nasty email from the Moderator of one county telling me she had removed my listing, NO PETS! in that countys board. But guess what? Before she took it down, a nice couple read the listing and had already left me a voice mail. YIPPEE! Now, if I can make it until morning with no more cat tragedies life will be good again. Morning came. The couple arrived. The cat was 'supposed' to have been for the wife. That cat went straight for the husband. B-line. He picks the cat up and that cat did something he never did to me...he laid his head right back across the mans shoulders. Okay, these people are okay. The cat would know. The wife the whole time keeps saying "Oh my gosh, he looks like Tom. He looks just like Tom. Honey, are you sure that isn't Tom?" Who Tom was I didn't know, and honestly, at that moment I didn't care. They emailed to tell me he was settling in just fine. I was content, my barn cats were once again content, all was well. About 5 days later my phone rings and it is the wife. She was downright giddy sounding. She goes into a story that made me cry. The whole ride home 'fat cat' rode on the husbands shoulder. When they got home, the cat more than not hung out with the husband (remember, it was the wife that had wanted the cat). Every time the husband would say "Tom" the cat would look. Starting to be amazed with the coincidence, the wife calls her mother-in-law. The MIL is astounded and asks, "Well, did you check his paw for the bullet scar?". Apparently, "Tom" had been shot in the paw and they had to operate to get the bullet out. At which time, they neutered him. Husband looks and to his surprise; there was the scar! To further prove that this is "Tom", the mother-in-law asks about the cats litter box habits. The wife confirms that he hates to use it and cries if it isn't cleaned after each visit. The MIL says to her, "Well, that's because I had him toilet trained!". And...sure enough. So the only thing now was that the MIL was on her way to see her cat and she was just sure she was taking him home and the wife didn't think so  Turns out, she (MIL) had gotten Tom when he was 3 weeks old, 14 years ago, and he has been missing from my hometown 12 miles from here for 4 years! Her son, aka the husband now lives 35 miles from here and his wife just HAPPENED to see the ad in the 1 hour that is was up. Everyth |
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