Two days ago I saw the oddest sight as I looked out of the window. A local teenager was riding his bike on the main road with a black cat draped over his shoulders who looked exactly like my "Miss Tilly" but who I couldn't imagine riding so precariously with a stranger.
The kid rode into the parking lot of the adjacent commercial property, got off his bike, carried the cat up a steep incline and dropped it over a tall chain link boundary fence. He waited for a moment, said something to the cat and then walked back down the hill, got on his bike and rode off.
I was half-dressed and it all happened so quickly.
Fifteen minutes later I saw the cat had hopped back over the fence and was entertaining itself in the parking are of the rural commercial property. Chasing leaves, pouncing and obviously having a good time. It was all too odd. All my cats are rescues and Tilly had come from this 'hood but was unique in being totally black when most of the ferals are homogenous mixes of colors - tabbies, calicos, "island Siamese" varieties, etc.
Less than an hour later I looked out into my customer parking lot and noticed a black cat playing underneath the custard apple tree. Tilly often hangs out in the lot and it was time for dinner anyway so I went out back and looked through my fence to see Tilly laying in the middle of the lot and the OTHER black cat several yards away from her.
I called Tilly in for dinner, she came running and leaped over the fence into the back yard - with the other black cat right behind her. He sat there and introduced himself by licking my proffered hand through the fence while Tilly "nosed" him through the fence and "Baby Max" curiously came over to do the same thing.
By the time the two of them followed me to the back door, the stranger black cat was right behind them. I fed the outside cats and then the inside four and gave Strange Black Cat a can of food separately outside which he scoffed down in a heartbeat. What was interesting was that neither the inside nor the outside cats seemed particularly bothered by his presence and both groups are usually quite territorial. All girls, all spayed, they will often chase off other ferals or else be intimidated by some rogues.
To cut a long story short, the little black cat has made himself quite at home. A young male, he'll be off to the vet in the next week to be fixed. I estimate he's 3-4 months old and he's a total lover.
The girls don't purr loudly, rather "vibrate" while this little guy purrs like a traction engine at full throttle. I got a very bad night's sleep last night as, although he goes out like a light, he awakened twice and came crawling up to my head purring like a maniac while sticking his nose right inside my ear and then gently nibbling my earlobe. Getting back to sleep with a loud engine noise coursing through the brain along with warm saliva in the ear-hole isn't easy ...
I showed him the litter box and he immediately knew what it was for and he's admirably dealing with some of the minor angst directed towards him by the girls, knows his place as a newbie.
Although the name "Joseph" (coat of many colors not!) has come to mind and might stick, the immediate frivolous names include, "Velcro", "Super Glue" and "Leech" as he's completely stuck next to me and only ventures max 4' outside the door.
I know that so many who either post here or who just lurk and read are, like me, animal rescuers. I trap, spay and neuter and release feline ferals and I also rescue their prey and have rescued dogs too and even a donkey a few years ago.
I'm
so far from wealthy and basically live hand to mouth but I can only assume that these animals simply "know" something instinctively. That I'm a sucker? Possibly, but I rather doubt it and I'm not a sucker where humans are concerned and don't think I'm a sucker where other animals are concerned either.
Thanks for reading, listening and hopefully hearing. Kudos to all of you who do what I do, and keep up the good work!
Cheers!
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) They feel safe and they react to that.
