By associating with the cat, one only risks becoming richer.

One morning about three years ago now, I looked out the bedroom window and saw a grey tabby cat in the front yard. I went out to see if he was friendly. He came over and rubbed against me and purred and meowed loudly. He didn’t have a collar on and I wondered if he belonged to anyone.

"Bob" relaxing in our yard
2008

Love those big green eyes, "Bob"!

He was gone later, but I thought about him. When we moved here we had several cats who came into the yard. They didn’t seem to belong to anyone. We fed two of the cats who “came with the house”, so we just figured that they came up to eat that food.

But, over the years, we didn’t see any feral cats. This little tabby was the first in a long time. And he really wasn’t feral. He was very friendly. When I didn’t see him for a few days, I assumed he went home.

Sometime later I was leaving the house to run errands. The little tabby was again in our yard. I petted him and left. When I returned, he was gone.

"Where's my food?"

One night I heard a cat in the yard meowing. I went out and it was the little tabby. By now I was getting concerned for this little cat. He seemed to be less than a year old. I was afraid something was going to happen to him, since he was out after dark.

"Bob" now wearing a collar

I started putting food out for him when I saw him. He came over and ate and was happy to be petted. One day when I looked out the window, I saw him. He had a collar on. I went out to see what the tag said. It didn’t have a name, but it had a phone number.

I called the number and left a message. Later in the day I received a call. The man said that the cat really wasn’t his, but they were feeding him, etc. I asked him what the cat’s name was and he said that he had been calling him “Cat”. I thought that was funny because I was calling the cat “Bob”. I asked if he was going to have “Cat” neutered and vaccinated. He really didn’t seem interested in doing that. I told him that I would get “Bob” neutered and vaccinated because I felt like he would be safer that way. The man said he would pay for half the cost of getting “Bob” neutered, but none of the vaccination cost. I said fine.

“Bob” stayed out of our yard for the next few days. Finally he came into the yard. I made an appointment to bring “Bob” in for his shots and have him neutered. Of course when it was time to take him to the vet, he didn’t come into the yard. I made another appointment and when “Bob” showed up again, I kept him overnight in the garage so I could monitor that he didn’t eat before his surgery the next day.

When I brought him home from the vet’s I kept him in a kennel in the garage for a week so he could heal properly. Finally, the man called and asked if I had his cat. I told him “yes” and that I would bring him down to the corner in a couple of days when “Bob” could be let out.

On the day “Bob” was to go ‘home’, I called and asked the man to meet me at the corner of our street. I carried “Bob” down and handed him over to the man.

I keep referring to “the man” because I never knew his name. He probably told me at first, but it didn’t stick with me.

We still saw “Bob” in our yard frequently. He was very vocal and we could hear him meowing very loud. When I heard him I would go out to pet him and I usually gave him something to eat.

He started coming in our backyard, which was not good since our cats don’t like strangers. “Bob” and Taz got into quite a “shouting” match a couple of times. I don’t think it ever came to blows, but poor “Bob” was chased from the yard.

We still had Chelsi then and she was slowing down quite a bit. I used to take her out for a short walk at night. We started down our street leaving the cul-de-sac. Sometimes “Bob” was out there and he would run along with us, frolicking in the yards, running up ahead. He went with us as far as the corner one night and then waited for us to come back. Chelsi didn’t mind him sharing our walks. I looked forward to seeing “Bob”.

Chelsi passed away that September. We got Sheila in January 2009. “Bob” was still in our neighborhood. He still waited for his walks at night with me and Sheila. Sometimes we didn’t see him until we walked by “his” house. If he noticed that I was walking a different dog, he didn’t show it. Sheila also didn’t mind walking with “Bob”.

A few months went by and then I noticed that “Bob” hadn’t been coming in the yard as much. When we walked by “his” house, we didn’t see him. I was sure that something happened to him. I really didn’t want to ask the man though. I hoped that the man’s son may have moved out and took “Bob” with him. I imagined all kinds of things and tried not to imagine the worst......”Bob” getting hit by a car, or being caught by a coyote, or hurt by a dog........or?

One night I walked with Sheila. As we walked by “Bob’s” house, I looked at it as I always did. I noticed light under the cracked garage door. I saw what was obviously a cat walking around the garage. My hopes were that it was “Bob” and that the man finally decided to start keeping him in. Although I missed him, I was glad that he wasn’t roaming freely.

My hopes were dashed a few days later when I was walking by and the man’s son was in the driveway, just getting home from work. Emboldened to ask about “Bob”, I approached the son and asked “Do you still have “Cat”?

He said “No”. “Cat” had died a few weeks ago. He came home and was sick. Seems he got hold of a poisoned rat or something, blah, blah, blah......he said he was very upset about it.....My mind was racing and I was just so disappointed that “Bob” died like that. I could have said something like, “Well, if you had cared enough about “Cat”, you could have kept him home!”, but I didn’t say anything but, “Oh, he was such a good little guy” or something like that. I was too angry to say much.

I often wished that I had never called that number on “Bob’s” collar. My plan was to find a good home for “Bob”. If I’d never called the man, he would never have known and probably wouldn’t have cared.

Then, since I’d seen the cat in the garage one night, I asked if they had another cat. He said that they had gotten his mom two kittens for Mother’s Day. I didn’t say anything else, just “Have a nice night”.

That’s been several months now and I haven’t seen any new cats in our yard. I can only hope that they learned a lesson when poor little “Cat” came home so sick that night and died from a poisoned rat.

Rest in peace little fellow...

More later.........