He showed up in mid-July looking emaciated and scared. His hunger over-ruled his fear, so he came back to get the food I put out for him. Within a few days, I'd won his trust, and he let me pet him. Before long, he was spending his days on our deck and hanging out with us when we were in the yard. He fattened up on the food we put out for him, while I posted an ad in the Daily Herald and Craigslist for a lost cat, as well as posting signs in the neighborhood, but all callers were looking for other cats, not Alex.
The little guy has grown on me, so I decided to check into some low-cost options for getting him immunizations to keep him healthy and neutering him so he's not populating up the neighborhood (I recommend Spay USA or Spay Illinois if you live in the state.) So Alex's big day was on Tuesday. I was thinking we'd bring him into the house for a couple days while he recuperated and then he'd be back outside. Come to find out that a recently neutered tom cat needs 14 days of recuperation - no running or jumping (are they kidding? Keep a cat from jumping?) Sigh....
So I brought him home and set him up in bathroom/laundry room and hoped for the best. After the grogginess wore off, Alex Let It Be Known that his preferred lifestyle is as an Outside Cat. He paced back and forth between the doors, meowing for what seemed like Hours. On. End. We ignore him, and it's slowly getting better (it's only day 3.) Today, we introduced our existing house cats to Alex. Well, they already knew him having seen him on their deck for the past 3 months, but it was a whole different story having him on their turf....inside the house. A few hisses, one swat, and things are going swell. Everyone is ignoring everyone else and I think we'll get through this. HOWEVER, I'm still looking for a good home for him, so if you know anyone who loves cats and would like to have this wonderful tiger tabby boy who is kid-friendly, and one cool cat, please let me know.
Alex seems to be adjusting a bit too well, don't you think?
