Oh yeah, forgot to add, he has the CUTEST habit of lifting his left paw up when he's trying to get my attention......

 

wow, that's some luck... on the bright side, you said he's in good shape... so maybe no health issues... if he doesn't have a chip, maybe you could foster him? i've not done it myself, so forgive me if i'm way off, but i believe that a lot of foster programs will help with the costs, in order to keep the animal out of the shelter...

 

Remember, you don't get the animal you need. You get the animal that needs you. I suspect we will be coming up with names soon.

 

It looks like you've been chosen, Rain!

 

He's lucky or am I LOL?

I know that my neighbors have killed at least 2 cats that had been causing trouble with their cats, and they've shot at this one but hadn't been aiming at it yet. He's very lucky I got to him before they decided that he was a danger to their cats.

I think I'm the really lucky one to have some company for however long I have him. He's such a sweetheart, but I learned to watch my food. He was sitting next to me while I ate and I sat back for a second, he took advantage of that to start licking at the gravy.

I'm not sure how fostering works or what programs are available near me. If he doesn't belong to one of the houses nearest me I'll be looking into it. Like I said I can't bear to think of him at the shelter. I'm about certain that they have a pretty high kill rate and last time I was there they were overloaded with cats.

He had to be raised in a house, he's completely unafraid of anything inside and has been exploring everywhere in between returning to me for pets. Right now he's sitting by me messaging, aka kneading, my leg just as content as can be. Hopefully he uses the temporary litterbox that I fixed up or goes outside to potty. Nothing like cleaning up cat potty accidents.

No, I cannot name him! I know the golden rule, you name them they are yours. Yes I am a hypocrite... so far I've called him sweetie, and baby...... but I am NOT naming him.

It does seem like he's at the very least planning to spend the night. I've been outside with him around 3 times and each time he follows me back in, I just wish he'd at least potty while were out there though since that's the whole point in my going out with him LOL.

Here's a pic of him, I'm sorry about the lighting and I'll try and get a better one in the morning.

 

oh! he is a cutie! lol, if you don't name him, you'll end up calling him something like "kitty" that will stick! he looks like a brian to me...

 

Didn't you know? In this day and age, posting pictures on the internet is the same as naming them in terms of claiming ownership.

 

Oh he is so cute! PM me, I will send you some money to offset the cost of caring for him for a while.....50 pound bag of cat food should last about 5 months! Seriously!

 

LOL, it's not the cat food, it's the vet care. I'd be giving serious consideration to keeping him if I didn't have to take care of me right about now. My teeth are horrid and I put off doing anything about it for the last two years while I took care of Shadow. Now I need to get them fixed before I even think about adopting another animal.

I really think that he has an owner out there somewhere:thumbsup: I just have to find them and get him home.

 

Yep, he's a cutie alright! His back is a solid dark grey but he has tabby markings on his legs, tail, face, and really lightly on his sides. It also looks like he put on cream colored eye liner, and his chin is cream colored to.

I'd keep him if I could, but I really suspect that he belongs to someone. Two families moved into the area in the past year and I think he may belong to one of them and just got out of the house. That's my hope anyway.

Right now he's contentedly causing my leg to fall asleep as he uses it as a body pillow LOL. Full belly, fresh water, and a nice soft, safe, warm place to sleep. I think he's good for the night

 

Hitting google, it looks like theres several "cat rescues" in TX, though I have no way of knowing who's close to you. If any aren,t to far away pthey may be willing to list him if you're willing to foster him at least temporarily

 

And if you don't find his owner..................I wanna name him Timothy Kelley Hahaha!!!!

 

If you find an owner, bop him over the head for letting such a sweetie roam where people shoot at cats! That boy is too handsome to live in such a danger zone!

 

*Mutter* I need to vent!

Fun times with the neighbors. First let me say, I live on their property so I have to be careful how I handle things, I'd love to just say, "Go take a long walk off a short pier.", but can't.

They are not happy about this cat, and I do admit that it's partially my fault, since I should have just kept him in when I went to the other neighbors down the road to see if he belonged to them. While I was out he apparently went over there and started to get into a scuffle with their cat Bandit.

Now I'm hearing, he's going to start a fight, he may be diseased and our cats are not vaccinated, we can't afford the vet bills from a fight. I can understand all of that, it's justifiable comments. I get it I really do....

What has me ticked off was when the neighbor called to see if I needed to go to town and I said yes I want to pick up some cat food and he said, "Well I guess I'll just take Bandit and Rusty to the pound since you're keeping him!" Woah, what? I never said I was keeping him, never even hinted that I was even thinking about that! I just want time to find the owners, that's all. If I can't I'm gonna rehome him. I then get a lecture that he probably was dumped, that it'll be impossible to find him another home, that even though they'll probably just euth him straight off I should take him to the shelter. I finally managed to convince him that since I now know he will fight their cats that I'm not going to let him outside unless I'm right there, that I just want a chance to find his owners, and that I have 0 plans of keeping him. I also reminded him that it was HIS wife that told me that they would not make a special trip to town to have the cat checked for a microchip or bring it to the shelter. What am I supposed to do feed him dog food for maybe 2 weeks?

I let him know that the cat hadn't even tried to jump on the kitchen counter or claw the furniture and was told that once he was comfortable here he would start. Really? He's very relaxed, not nervous at all, I'd say he's plenty comfortable.

I called the shelter and let them know I had found him. My 2 nearest neighbors (not counting the ones I'm venting about) said they did not lose a cat, I'm waiting for the other 2 to get home to ask them. It's not like I'm even procrastinating about trying to figure out who he belongs to, yet still the verbal bashing. If I wasn't so ticked off I'd laugh since it's there fault he's going to be around a little while, they are the ones who don't want to take him to town right away

I have about another year and a half before I can move away from here and I'm gonna do a happy dance when I do, I am SOOOO tired of biting my tongue around these people. They manage to alienate everyone, it's truly amazing....

Here he is earlier this morning,

 

What has me ticked off was when the neighbor called to see if I needed to go to town and I said yes I want to pick up some cat food and he said, "Well I guess I'll just take Bandit and Rusty to the pound since you're keeping him!"

Ah, straight-up emotional blackmail. Few things get me saltier.

I don't understand someone who can't afford vet bills if their cats get in a fight, so instead of just keeping the cats indoors they... just shoot all the other cats in the world.

 

Boy Rain, I wouldn't want to be in your position.

It's going to break your heart taking him to the shelter.
So those are rusty's owners, ya they do a real good job of taking care of their own....not!

Is this neutered?

BTW, do not feed a cat dog food, I was told by my Vet that prolonged use of dog food on a cat can cause blindness.

What a predicament to be put in. This cat wants YOU!

 

Its more than dog food doesn't contain the extra taurine that cats need, plus cats are true carnivores and dog food often isn't the right percentages for them. Having said that a few days to a week of dog food is better than no food!

 

Ahh taurine! That's the word that I was trying to remember but couldn't!

Shadow's old food contained 70% meat / 38% protein, the cat food I just picked up only has 30% protein. The cat food is a cheap food but cheap food is the only thing available at the only "large" store in the little town nearest me. I'm honestly not sure if the dog food wouldn't be better for him LOL.

 

Yep those Rusty's owners. Wife was the one who told me that dog's don't have souls. Lady was their GSD she died of, completely preventable, heartworms. To them their animals, and a stray animal doesn't seem to illicit any sympathy from them.

Yeah, I knew I couldn't keep feeding him dog food and have him stay healthy, I just fed it to him last night and this morning because he was so hungry. Once I got husband calmed down he quit ranting, so I got to go to the store and get the cat food. Get this, when he was starting to calm down he said, "I'd give you some of our cat food but then we'd run short." I told him, "That's why I didn't even ask you...". I'll give him this, he did say I could use their old litter box, the one they had before wife kicked Rusty and Bandit out the house.

Yep he's neutered. He's such a total sweetheart and just wants to be near people. He's curled up next to me right now sleeping.

Normally I just let the comments run off like water down a ducks back, but unjustified attacks are harder to put up with, and my emotions are still very raw from losing Shadow so they're managing to get to me more then usual.

 

I sent this e-mail

Hello,

2 weeks ago my 17 year old dog passed away, last night I finally spotted the cat my neighbors have been shooting at (they were not yet aiming to kill) in the hopes of driving it off. I called to the cat and he meowed back and came trotting up. He came inside with me and has made himself at home. Unfortunately I cannot keep him, the neighbors who were shooting at him also own the land that I live on and have stated that they do not want him around since he picks fights with their cats. I'm currently doing my best to keep him inside and away from them but do not know how long he'll be content inside. He is a grey tabby, has been neutered, and has on a very faded blue (now faded to pink) nylon coller. He is a total sweetheart and seems completely at home in the house, he has not clawed any furniture, nor has he had any potty accidents. He's in good body condition, with clear eyes, and a clean coat. His only problem seems to be not getting along with my neighbors cats. I've checked with my neighbors and no one owns him, I have not yet gotten a ride (I do not drive and live way out in the country on a dirt road) to take him to the vet to have him scanned for a chip.

Do y'all know of anyone in the Nacogdoches, TX area who runs a no kill shelter? I cannot bear taking him to the county kill shelter, the though of taking him to the shelter and him being euth, especially since I just lost my boy, is breaking my heart. I'll keep him for as long as I can, but I'm not sure how long that'll be before the ptoperty owners put their foot down and says he has to go, I had to beg to at least keep him for the next week or so. If you can help I'll greatly appreciate it, Even if it's just to give me some resources to try.

Thank you!

Sincerly,
XXXXX XXXXXXX


To all the emails listed for Texas at this site Pet Assistance Network: Texas No-Kill Shelters Hopefully I'll hear back from at least one and someone will be able to help.

 

He needs the extra taurine though thats in the cat food.

The lower protein doesn't nessecarily mean much. Raw chicken is less than 20% protein. It all depends on how they treat it, dry it, etc.

 

Thanks for the info, I figured there must be some difference, if only the vitamin and mineral content so I put some of it out for him after I bought it. It's good to know that there's probably a bigger difference then just that.

 

Yes and no lol, and I'm not saying the cheap food is great stuff, but there IS a difference between cat food and dog food and there is a reason for those differences! You can probly mix in a bit of the dog food if you want though.

 

The dog food I was just recently using was making my cat sick, every day he would come down and grab a few (even though I shooed him back to his own food each time), but every time he got into and got more than 2-3 pieces he would throw up, we got a new better food for the dogs and he doesn't seem interested though thankfully.

 

Could always use the dog food as treats too. My more trainable cat would probably LOVE Shadow's food, he's such a food junkie!

 

No good news on the cat, so far but I'm not giving up. There have been no replies to my craigslist found ad, and no replies to my facebook can you help me plea. Only one out of the 3 no kill shelters that I e-mailed replied and they said they can't help try asking on FB for a home for him. I'll keep trying though, if anyone has any tips to try or ideas please let me know.

He's adorable, and a really good cat. His main problems seem to be a dislike of other cats (not that that's unusual with cats) and his love of the outdoors (he door dashes. He darted out twice today, and I let him out a time or two, but I followed him around the entire time he was out. I must have looked like some weird wildlife biologist studying the secret life of cats. My home has an open floor plan and the only door is the one for the tiny bathroom, I can just picture what would happen if I locked him in there, so I just watch him if he gets out. He'll let me catch him and carry him back to the house if I need to so it's not really a problem.

 

Hi,
Just wondering, do you have a friend that might take him or a relative? Maybe put an ad in the paper for a WONDERFUL CAT and then check out the responders? You probably have already done this. Any cat rescues out there? I feel for you...totally understand the teeth thing. If you were in the midwest I would take him...any people driving my way...Illinois?

 

I've checked with friends and people on my road but no one can take him. My relatives all live in and around New Orleans and I've no way to get him to one of them if they did want him.

So far I haven't found any local no kill cat rescues, probably because the nearest bigger city is 2 hours away. I'm going to look for ones further away from where I live, maybe they know of some more locally.

I'm planning to put an ad in the paper and on Craigslist after I get him scanned for a microchip and get him health checked at the vet. My neighbors haven't gone to town yet, they are my ride, so I haven't been able to do that.

He really is a great cat, he just hates being cooped up in the house during the day, and he doesn't take kindly to other cats in what he considers his territory. He's not happy with me right now since I needed a break from the great outdoors and brought him inside.

If I drove I'd spend money on the gas to get him to you. He's that sweet and deserves a person to love him, and I know you would do so.

One piece of good news is that the neighbors have settled down and the husband even said, "If you're keeping him I'll take y'all to the vet.", that means I have more time to re-home him I wish I could keep him, but I've no idea how I'd afford it if an emergency pops up, nor do I want to spend the next x number of years following him around for hours every day to keep him from fighting, and I don't know what I'd do with him when I go to town during the summer since I couldn't leave him out alone. Really it's the fighting then neighbors cats that's the biggest problem.

 

pkelley, you have such a warm and wonderful heart.

 

BAT or LAT for cats in the meantime?

 

I'm actually trying, but not sure how much success I'm going to have. Also trying in the house for his new behavior of trying to dig through the door. He does not like it when the AC clicks on and goes into must escape mode. No, the AC noise is not going to get you, no you cannot dig your way out the door, no I'm not going to open the door when you are doing that. No I'm not going to open the door when the AC is on thereby teaching you the noise means the door opens.

 

Is he neutered? Maybe that would cut down the aggression?? Ask the vet to do it for free if not! Can't hurt asking...