My Photo

As some may have noticed I have picture of a cat instead of one for myself. Yes I am one of the many that feel does not take good photos.

The cat is Taylor, he is former feral cat from a local Feral Colony I was taking care of.

His mother was a feral that I was never able to trap and get spayed, Her name is Sarah.

I saw him grow up at at a distance, he grew up into a large male cat, head the size of a softball.

Interesting note, not matter what time or what entrance I came to the colony to feed, he was there waiting for me. He would let me touch him, but he seemed to never crave for attention. He would wait to feed, letting the younger ones and females get a bigger share.

The Feral Colony I took care of, always seemed to have more cats than where born there. I TNR(Trap, Neuter, and Return) many of the cats that came there. My priorities were to spay the females cats first, then the males.

The Cat's Network in the area seemed to know I was taking care of the colony. I found many cats who I assumed were dumped there or had found there way there. The socialized cats I was able to use my cat rescue group to find homes for. Any kittens were socialized and taken into the cat rescue groups programs.

One night of feeding, I noticed Taylor had a abscess on the right side of his face. He had been absent for several days. The abscess was almost the size of his head. He seemed to be moving and eating alright. But I realized he was going to need veterinary care for that abscess.

I usually had a cat carrier in my car, but a few days earlier I had used that carrier to help another cat rescue volunteer to transfer a cat she had to cage. So I did not have any means of securing him, to get to veterinary care.

I gave a quick prayer to Bast, that he would be healthy enough to be there the next night, continued my feeding rounds and left the colony location.

The next night I came back with a large carrier and some food treats. As I parked my car, Taylor came out of the darkness. The abscess had grown even larger.

I took the carrier out my car and set it down, opening the door and threw in some of the food treats. I stepped back and waited and watched. Taylor was very hungry, he was halfway into the carrier when I attempted to push/shove him into it all the way so I could close the door. But as I placed my hand in his rear end, he backed so very fast it was hard for the see it actually happen. He bolted away to about 6 feet from me.

I stepped back a bit from the carrier, and spoke in low soft voice, explaining why and what I was trying to do. He looked at me, then at the carrier. He walked over slowly to the carrier looking at me and the carrier was he walked. Once at the carrier he paused briefly and entered. I moves slowly over and closed the door on the carrier and picked him up and placed him into the car. I then went and finished my feeding rounds.

I had told my wife what I was going to attempt to do that night, we had set up very large dog cage in the computer room in our house.

So when I got home that night the cage was ready with litter box, food and water. I placed him into the cage, by just putting the carrier inside it. I took some can food, dosed with some antibiotics on hand for such. I then opened the carrier. He moved over to the can food and inhaled it.

I then sat and talked to him in a soft low voice, about what I was going to try and help him heal and get better and that he would be neutered too. I then left the room and closed the door so he would not be bothered my cats in residence.

The next morning when I came into, the abscess had burst, leaving a very large open wound. This was a weekend so my Vet was not open. I opened the cage to give him some more can food with antibiotics in it. As I was placing the can food, he slowly moved forward and smelled of my hand. I moved my hand to lightly touch the top of his head. When I did this he leaned into my touch, but did not stop eating the can food. When he inhaled the can food, and trilled at me. Again he was leaning into my touch, I then started stroking his head.

I took some antibiotic ointment, and gently put some on his open wound. Again he merely trilled at me, seemed to like the feel of his cheek being rubbed as I worked the antibiotic into the wound.

This became our ritual, I would feed him can food, then treat his open wound which amazed me at his acceptance. Over the course of the weekend he became more demanding of being petted/stroked. But if he saw my wife he would hiss loudly and give her his death glare. Once she left the room, he was back to seeking attention.

On Monday I contacted my Vet, and told him what I had done. He agreed with my treatment and asked if I needed more antibiotics, I said no.

I was able to gain his trust, and the wound healed very well. When I was able to get him into the Vet to get the wound looked at and get his neutering he was very loving.

When I came to get him from the Vet, he as loudly yowling in display of leave me alone. The Vet told me they opened his cage to examine him after the neutering due they say some blood in the cage. Big Mistake, they got to play kitty cat round up for over 30 minutes. Once again secured, they examined him and found the blood to be nothing to be concerned about.

The Vet wanted to see if I could get him into a carrier. Seems he was abit afraid of him, even with his background in wild animal Veterinary care. When I entered the area, he stopped yowling and started to trill at me. I opened the carrier and opened his cage. He rapidly entered the carrier all the time trilling at me. My Vet just looked amazed and chuckled, telling me he was My Cat.

Once back home, I let him out in my computer room. He got familiar with it, and settled in.

I took several weeks before he could see my wife with out hissing at her.

He is now my constant shadow, when I am on the computer he is sitting to my left, in front of me, or on the computer tower lying down.

He never meows, but he trills, he never purrs but has a particular look on his face and licks his lips rapidly, which I take as his form of purring.

He is a very large cat, never found any cat food he does not like. He is also very intelligent. We know when someone comes to our door long before knock. He gives a loud growl and moves into the back of the house.

Part of my before bedtime snack, we share my yogurt. But he only wants the yogurt if he can lick if directly from the cup.