Monthly Archives: November 2020

Nov21

Big Guy’s Story – Part Four

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My poor boy was so skinny, covered in sticking burrs, and had (shudder) ticks. I could feel that his hip bones were jutting up. Of course he was filthy. He was sneezing, and the insides of his ears? Truly disgusting.

He went missing August 30, and I didn’t get him back until September 17. He had a hard time of it, but again proved he is a survivor.

I rang our vet immediately and got an appointment for Saturday. Two days to wait! I also bought him a harness, a heating pad, and set up the shed properly with a cat bed and litter box. I still had to go to work from 10-6, and he would have to be locked in when I wasn’t home. No way was I risking him going for another wander.

Big Guy and I spent every moment possible when I was home on my lap, sitting together in the shed, with his harness on – just in case. He growled at my husband if he came out when we were together. BigGuy didn’t have a problem with being fed by him when I wasn’t home. Protective of me? Was I the safe place? A bit of each? I’ll never be sure.

When we went to the vet it was a different experience in Covid-19 times. I was allowed to go in with him. He got a lengthy ear cleaning as he had a raging, smelly ear infection (I wasn’t that close, and masked so am grateful I didn’t get the smell). We did a parasite treatment for the ticks, antibiotics for the cold along with ear drops. I also got him microchipped.

“So, I guess we have three cats now?” My husband said on the way home.

“Yep.”

Hiding in the raspberry canes.

I now had a gardening buddy! It was nice to have someone hanging out with me when I pottered about. He was very calm, as he wasn’t feeling well for a long while – both before and after the vet visit.

He met Lumi through the sliding glass door. It went well! Lumi loves excitement, and other cats. BigGuy didn’t seem to care much about Lumi. He kept calm and observed. He also met the dog while he was on my lap, and she was interested but walked away when I said ‘leave it.’ BG seemed to instantly understand that she was not a threat.

Before long, hubby was sending me pictures at lunch, and updates, and best of all? iDJ was getting huge nose-bumps. Boom! That was all it took for my man to also fall in love with BigGuy.

He was healing, and learning his new territory.

He was also very unhappy when I went inside without him! So… I let him in, of course. He was and is my White Shadow, and I wanted to see what happened.

He was great inside. He ignored Lumi yelling curses at him, ignored the dog, ignored Lokii freaking out with hisses and growls.

Exploring the cat tree, which is right in the damn way in the middle of our kitchen. As you do.

He did pee on our bed, and twice on Lokii’s pillow I leave in front of the fireplace so his cold Siamese bones can be warmed. All easily resolved with doing extra laundry and proper animal-pee spray cleaners. After his third day of venturing inside, he never did it again.

He now feels fantastic and doesn’t like me putting the harness on him! So he doesn’t go out much now – and who would want to, in a wet and windy Irish winter? When he does, I stay right by his side and he gets spooked by the sounds of the neighbours on either side, and wants right back in where it is safe. I might have some difficulty when the weather is better, but for now he hasn’t been outside in over two weeks and doesn’t miss it.

Who wouldn’t love being well-fed all the time and cuddles and play with a lunatic Bengal, and humans who cover you up to see if you like it? (He does)

He is SO DAMN SMART. He really thinks things through, and solves problems with kindness and love instead of violence and growling. When he wants me to get up – always after my alarm has gone off – he makes biscuits on me, purring like mad. If he wants food, or play, he makes his little trill ‘mrrrp?’ and we can’t resist.

He loves to play! His favourite game is chase. It worries Lumi a bit as that is a new game for him. But I play it just fine! He will hide in plain sight, clearly in hunting, butt-wiggle position, and I get to jump out at him. Or he jumps out at me! He has never clawed us, not once. And those huge paws are equipped with razors. He’s so gentle and tells us if he doesn’t want something by popping up in the air on his hind legs, but never scratching. It is such an amazing treat, getting to know him.

My favourite picture of him so far. And we have a lot!

Nov17

Big Guy’s Story – Part Three

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He was missing. I was hopeful but upset. I had taken that week off work as I had unused holiday time. Going back to the stars aligning, it was part of my plan to be there for a week to help him settle in.

Instead, I spent several hours every day walking around and calling for him. I spoke to everyone I saw, as we knew there weren’t any other long-haired white cats in town.

I had one person, close by, say that they saw him early Monday morning. I kept going around and around that area but didn’t find him. So many people were on the lookout, but no sightings. One false alarm, because my friend Mrs MMC (who fosters cats) has a short-haired solid white cat who goes outside. It was her Monty, not our BigGuy.

The week, and the weekend, went by with nothing. I learned all about the local outdoor cat population, and found a sad case I couldn’t help who died. I reported the body to the spca, and worried more than ever.

When I had to go back to work, I made up lost cat signs. Himself printed them out, and he, and I, and his mam, set about posting them around town.

Mam was the winner! She had just put the sign up in our local hardware shop (the owners are good friends of all of us) when a woman stopped to chat. The woman eventually got around to remembering that she had seen a big white cat at the local school!

Mam rang us and immediately we went to look. I didn’t go into that area on my walks, as I didn’t know I could go in there. I’m not a local! It was also across our main road – while not super busy as it is a small town, I didn’t think BigGuy would cross the main road. We drove, and he dropped me off to let me look while he went to the shop. We were thinking it could be another failure so didn’t prepare.

I walked down an alley and saw a big, old, stone shed with a metal door that didn’t quite touch the ground. I called, ‘Big Guy! Big Guy! Come on!’

Instantly he came out from under the metal shed door! He was so happy to see me, giving little trills of excitement and pleasure. I rang hubby right away to go home and get the carrier so we could bring him home again. It was a tense wait, but BigGuy was not leaving my side. There was another cat there that was cursing at him but he completely ignored her and looked up at me, so wary and unsure but happy to see a friend.

Again I stuffed him into the carrier for the one minute drive home. He was less than happy about the shoving, but I wasn’t letting him go again.

Nov14

Big Guy‘s Story – Part Two

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Before I got the kittens rehomed, I managed to get BigGuy neutered. He fell for roasted chicken, and I shoved his butt into the carrier and off we went to my vet, who had agreed to take him and do the neuter on behalf of the local SPCA.

June 30, 2020. Beautiful boy.

We did it as a TNR (trap neuter release). The vets said he appeared to be about ten, but his teeth were pretty good for his age. He came out of the surgery just fine, so I took him back to work and let him go again. Part of my reasoning was that if I got Peggy done while the kittens were still around, he would protect them. I saw over the next few weeks that he stopped spraying pee everywhere (fantastic) while I also tried online to find a home for him. No one wanted a 10+ year old feral (former) tomcat, no matter how beautiful and kind.

He definitely became calmer and happier. And he showed me his incredibly fuzzy, curly belly! He was actually playing with string! I stopped looking for someone else to take him and started making plans to bring him home.

Hubby and I discussed at length how it might work. We bought a little cat-house for the outside, as we assumed he wouldn’t want to be indoors. We also had huge concerns about the dog. She likes cats, but definitely knows the difference between ‘her cats’ and ‘stranger cats.’ So, a ‘stranger cat’ in our back garden all the time was something we had to work around.

We both hated the idea of leaving him outside. But after the calamity and violence that happened between Lokii and Lumi when I tried to keep one of last year’s kittens, we knew we couldn’t just toss BG inside and hope for the best. Old man Lokii was not likely to want BigGuy anywhere near him. Also… the dog! What would BigGuy think of a massive dog in the house all the time? Was he scared of dogs? He should be, to have survived so long as a feral.

BG stealing my folding chair on his last day in his territory. August 28, 2020.

I put the little cat house together (smaller than expected), found a good sheltered spot for it, and when the stars aligned I went to work on a Saturday morning, got him into the carrier again, and brought him home!

I used tuna in oil to catch him this time. A tip for anyone doing cat-catching: DO NOT use tuna in oil! It got all over him. Especially his tail, which was horribly filthy already. At this point he didn’t want to go in the carrier again and did fight me a bit, then flailed about in the carrier. He came out with a dirty, oily, smelly, crud-encrusted stick instead of a tail.

Oh, his poor tail! What a mess. 29 August 2020.

Unfortunately, I was an idiot. Bound to happen; I’ve never done this before. I didn’t give him enough time to acclimate. I was accustomed to him following me around at work, and I expected the same from him at his new home. He spent the night in our tiny, junk-filled shed, and on Sunday morning I let him out with me and he went exploring.

Exploring right out of sight. He went over a wall and he was gone.

Nov14

Big Guy‘s Story – Part One

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I’d seen him around work for a long time. I say ‘around’ because he never got close to me at all. I first noticed him after I had met and befriended Peggy. I’m not sure how many years it has been since I first spotted this white ghost slinking underneath cars in our parking lot.

I think this is the first photo I took of him, October 2019. He ran away when I got too close. This is a zoomed-in picture (hence the blur).

Once Peggy let me see her babies, this big white dude also trusted me enough to come and hang out (and get food).

21 October, 2019.

He was so good with what I assumed were his kittens. Maybe they were, maybe not… he also assumed they were his or just loved Peggy. In any case, he let momma cats Peggy and Vickie and all of the kittens steal his food without a hiss or a swat. He moved aside and looked filthily regal, like a white lion watching over his pride. He still kept his distance from me.

January 2020

I didn’t give up, and he eventually learned to trust me. I was spending most of my mental efforts on the three kittens Peggy had finally showed me. I needed to get them, and Peggy, help. Always I knew he had to be caught and neutered, too. So, while taming feral kittens, I worked on earning his trust.

February 10, 2020

From October to February… finally I got my first touch! I was so thrilled. He trusted me to get close enough after so long.

March 5, 2020. He had a huge, bloody wound on his ear.

He had such a kind and attentive manner toward Peggy, despite her slapping him silly, daily. He protected the kittens and Peggy, even if she didn’t need (or want) him to. This tomcat was so special! I desperately wanted to clean him up, brush him, heal his wounds and keep him safe from more injuries, illness and parasites.

I’d fallen in love.

May 22, 2020. It was the most horrible windy day, and I set up my chair in a sheltered corner and got him on my lap for the first time. Peggy joined him on my other leg shortly, as I was keeping them both out of the wind.