Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat, Where have you been?
This is the latest feral cat visiting us. He has been coming around off and on for a couple of months. I say 'he' but have not yet been able to spot any proof! I am guessing it's a 'he' due to his size and build though. Feral cats have always come for awhile and then eventually disappear...probably by way of hawk, owl or coyote, unfortunately. We did have a female that stuck around for awhile. We called her 'Barney' since she lived in the barn until she began to trust us; then promptly moved in under the back porch. This turned out to be not such a good deal for us. After taming down, she needed constant petting...if we dared to stop petting her, or even worse-- tried to walk by without petting her at all-- Barney would show her displeasure by quickly swiping with razor sharp claws any bare skin she could reach. Even though I love cats, this did not bode well with me since, as far as we knew, she had always been feral and had never had any shots.
Unlike the Toms, she did not wander very far or for very long. We became her people... she owned us and the porch! Alas she did not meet a more pleasant end than the Toms did. One day we noticed a wound on her shoulder. We noticed a perfectly round opening on this swollen bare patch. We managed to hold her and upon closer inspection saw that there was a creature of some sort living in this little cave under her hide! Well...even though she was a feral cat, this simply would not do. We made an appointment with the vet for the next day.
As it turns out the vet was elated! We brought her the first Cuterebra that she had ever had the pleasure of meeting in person! See the Merck vet Manual entry. After removing it from its hideout in the cat's shoulder, she asked for permission to keep it (Did she really need to ask--Ha!) and then proceeded to drop it in a bottle of... formaldehyde maybe? What a gift--she refused to charge us for the cat's minor surgery, so we went ahead and got her rabies shot taken care of anyway.
It was not long after that when Barney disappeared. In spite of regularly having to dodge her claws, we were concerned for her. This was so unlike her to disappear. It was weeks, I think, that we would call for her every time we went outside, hoping that she might turn up alive. At this time the back porch was still closed in with old wooden lattice panels. A small animal could squeeze underneath. There were a bunch of dried leaves under there that might have made a good nest... I remember shining the flashlight under there on several occasions looking for her. Never did find her. Never did stop calling.
Finally one day I went outside, and there in the 6 inch gap between the concrete steps and the cellar door was Barney...she was gone. We never really knew what happened, but we do know that it wasn't a hawk or owl or coyote that took her life. She just died of some unknown illness...most likely due to the cuterebra ordeal. I think that she must have been hiding under the porch all that time. I think she crawled out at the end so we could find her. If only we had known, we would have taken her back to the vet. Feral cat or not.
There have been others, always Toms, that have tamed somewhat. They always disappear. So as beautiful as this black and white is, I'll try not to get too attached.
