We haven't really talked about him much since we still aren't sure how we're going to handle things, but BHK (short for Big Head Kitty; Brett's idea) is what we've named the stray cat we've been taking care of lately.
He's been wandering around the neighborhood for years - even when it's over 100 degrees out or when there's snow on the ground, and about six months ago I noticed him sleeping in a cardboard box we left out on our back porch. We started feeding him off and on about three months ago - reluctantly, but he was so hungry! He's always dirty and he has bug bites, etc, and I can see inside the little box he sleeps in through the sliding glass door in our kitchen, and when I glance over, he's there about 25% of the time.
A couple of weeks ago, when it was 19 degrees out and we had a foot of snow on the ground, I was in the kitchen making lunch and I heard this kind of hoooo hoooo sound coming from the backyard. I've seen plenty of eagles and hawks around here, but I've yet to come face to face with an owl, so I dropped what I was doing and snuck out the back door to take a look.
When I got out there I was horrified to see that it wasn't an owl making that noise, but it was little BHK! He was so cold and wet that he was curled up in a tight little ball, wheezing and whimpering in his box. :( I could see the track marks in the snow where he'd trekked over (leg ruts, instead of footprints because there was so much snow), and I was so sad for him!
Since he probably has cooties and our cats are clean, live only indoors, and don't have experience with strange kitties, I decided to set him up in the garage instead of just blindly taking him into the house. We have a couple of old foam mattress pads (the cheap kind) that we were going to take to the dump anyway, so I folded those into a nice cushy square (they're smashed really thin), put down a cheap heating pat, an old towel, and a cardboard box top (to hold in his body heat), made a cardboard box litter box (with litter and a liner), and set out food and water too.
When I tried to pick him up out of his porch box the first time, he panicked and ran away, which I was actually *kind of* relieved about, because I thought he'd maybe run home (assuming he has a home, however crappy it may be). I didn't see him again all afternoon, but around dinnertime he was back in his box AGAIN. The sun had been down since 4pm, and I don't know how cold it was outside by then, but I'm sure it wasn't exactly toasty.
Since Brett was home this time, he helped me kind of trick BHK into coming out of his box on his own, and then I kind of pounced on him with a towel and wrapped him up in it in case he decided to get scratchy. As soon as I was holding him though he was very good - not scratchy at all; not even squirmy (he probably felt my body heat and calmed down - he was so cold!).
So we put him in the garage and he lived there for about a week and a half, only coming out of his little heated box to eat, get pets, and poop. He actually didn't poop at ALL for the first two days and based on our cats' never-ending crap supply I found this lack of poop a little worrisome, but after about 48hrs he started pooping a couple times a day both in, and AROUND the litter box, so I'm really glad we put him in the garage. I kind of wonder if he wasn't pooping at first because he didn't have any food in him to poop. :(
After most of the snow had melted on the ground, and the night time temps were back in the 40's we decided to open the garage door and see if he was interested in leaving, and he just walked right out. I kind of hoped that if he had an owner, not seeing him for so long would scare them into taking him back inside, but within 24hrs he was back on our porch again.
I've been feeding him once a day ever since (half the amount that our cats get), and we've decided that next weekend we're going to call our local no-kill animal shelter to talk to them about whether or not we should bring him in.
I feel bad for not wanting to keep him, but our two cats are a bonded pair (they were litter mates), they have always been indoor cats, they never have "accidents," they're very healthy, fairly young (I think this guy is probably a senior), they're very needy, and I think Mordechai would be VERY jealous of another boy in the house.
Also, we really can't afford to take as good of care of him as we do Mordechai and Star (with food and anti-parasite meds, they're about $30 each per month, plus toys, treats, grooming supplies, and vet bills once or twice a year), and I'm sure he'll need lots of expensive special care at first too - he needs to be neutered, I bet he'll need his teeth cleaned (and possibly need dental surgery if no one's been taking care of his teeth all these years), he probably needs to be de-wormed, and if he hasn't had proper vaccinations he may even have leukemia or some other horrible disease. :(
I think he deserves a nice warm home, but I also don't want him in our house, and I think it's wrong of us to keep him caged up in the garage - when he was out there we had to *make* ourselves go out to pet him (our garage is on the other side of the house, and it's not a very cozy place to hang out), and even then we only went out there about four or five times a day.
At NOAH, which is where we adopted Mordechai and Star, he would be warm, fed, taken care of medically, AND given love and attention. It's a really great place. And he's a pretty friendly guy - maybe someone kind (who doesn't already have two indoor-only cats) would even adopt him! I feel bad stealing him away from the neighborhood where he's probably always roamed, and dumping him off at a kitty orphanage, but HE DESERVES A HOME, DAMMIT!!! A good one. Even if it is a shelter. That being said, we are going to *call* them first, so maybe they'll say to just leave him where he is because he might belong to someone...who knows. I just want him to have what he needs. :(
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