Last spring a beautiful young black cat began appearing in my yard. At first, I assumed that it belonged to a neighbor and it had gotten out of their house. Stray animals are seldom seen here. But it continued to appear and after a few times witnessing it killing a bird or a chipmunk and I began to realize that it was living wild with no one feeding it.
I began to suspect that someone had dumped it here.
It never let me get close. One day I noticed that it had been injured, it's ear was tattered, and it's eye seemed damaged.
A nearby neighbor put out a live trap to try to catch it, intending to take it to the Humane Society where it would be cared for until they found a home for it, but the cat was smart and didn't go in the trap.
As autumn was coming to an end, I began to worry that it would not survive the winter. When my family was here for Thanksgiving the girls saw the cat and made an effort to tempt it to come to them and it seemed to beecome friendlier with each bite of turkey that they were feeding it!
They spent much of the afternoon getting him to trust them, and almost convinced him to come in the house. Eventually they tempted him into a cat carrier by using bits of our leftover Thanksgiving turkey.
My daughter and her husband agreed to adopt him and took him home. They stopped to buy supplies and prepared a place for him in a crate where he would be safe until they learned how their two dogs would react to having a cat in the house.
His name is Odin and he is blind in one eye. He has been to the vet, and is safe and well loved. Andy, the old German Shepherd is not fond of Odin, and has to be watched, but the young cat is quicker and manages just fine!
And my Feathered Friends, the chipmunks, and I will be much happier this spring, too!
