Don't Make Eye Contact

We have been adopted.

A few months ago we started receiving daily visits from a little black kitty. Not a newborn, but probably less than a year old. Every time we stepped out the door onto the porch we would hear her meowing to us from the woods. Slowly she started getting closer and closer to the house until she was living under and on our porch. She always talked to us and would try to rub up against us and purr. She also, it seemed, thought that our house was her house. I mean if these other felines could go inside, why couldn't she? She would actually sit down in front of the front door effectively blocking our other cat's from entering until we shooed her away. Normally stray cat's come and go and are too scared to come close to the house so this was very unusual.

I asked my farming neighbors if they were missing any barn cats, which they denied. So possibly some butt hole dropped Summer off nearby, it wouldn't be the first time.

Hus warned us not to acknowledge her, talk to her or especially not to feed her. So much for my sweet Cat Whisperer. You could tell that "Summer", named by my daughter, was starving. She was matted fur and bones and when I looked close I noticed she had bits of tapeworm on her. Another disturbing thing she had was a sneeze that produced green snot. Yuck.

Some other things Hus ,The Cat Whisperer said to us...

"You can't save them all, she's a stray."

"Cokee will be jealous and might run away."

"We don't want our cat's catching anything."

"He's not a handsome cat."

"I don't want to be crazy cat people."

One evening during dinner, Summer stood outside the window looking in while we ate. She meowed and meowed; She was pathetic.

Hus said "Don't make eye contact. Pretend she isn't their."

Well of course the next day I fed her. She loved the food and purred the whole time she was eating. I also combed out her matted hair and wiped her nose.

That evening, Hus and I were on the porch and Summer was lying next to our male cat Arthur when she suddenly jumped up and walked over to Hus and started yelling at him.

I looked at Hus and said "So how long have you been feeding her?"

"Couple weeks."

So that night I gave Summer tapeworm medicine, combed her matted hair again, wiped her nose and made an appointment for her at the vets.

We took her for her shots and well, surprise, Summer is a boy!

It's been a couple of weeks since the visit to the vet and Summer is now part of the family. He is worm free and hasn't sneezed in weeks. Cokee still hisses and swats at him if he gets too close. Arthur is always looking over his shoulder with a look on his face like "Why is this crazy cat following me around." I think Summer likes Arthur.

Before food, love and attention. Note the dull hair and bloated belly.

After, resting on the couch in his new home. Note the bright eyes and shiny coat.

We still don't understand how such a lovable gentle cat made it for so long on his own. We have Coyotes and Foxes around who love to eat cat's. What makes me really sad is how lonely he must have been all by himself.

Poor worms.