Homeless Cat -- Now Spotacus' Legacy

[Wanderlost]

On 18 Dec, a very large cat showed up at our house. It was late and cold, and he looked in the door and made it clear he wanted inside. Well, since we have two cats already and he was a stranger, we could not let him in the house. WLToo walked out and the cat ran to him, so he walked the cat into the garage and into the climate controlled room out there.

He was extremely hungry and thirsty, but in otherwise good condition and very clean. We fixed up a bed for him, set up the feeding and elimination stations, and went to bed.

Next day, we worked in the garage all day, while the big guy slept or supervised. We found him to be an intact male, no sign he's ever worn a collar, and he has a strong need to be in the general vicinity of humans. For an intact male, he's remarkably mellow - I don't think he was the alpha cat in his previous home.

Have had zero responses to the "found cat" notices around the area and online, so we'll be working with the local rescues to get him neutered and all his shots, then find him a home. We can't keep him because he's just too big for our two cats to share our small house. Alex would have another emotional meltdown, and I don't want to go through that mess again (long, ugly story).

For now, we're calling him Spot, not that he answers to it (does answer to "Kitty, Kitty"). No idea how he travels; we'll find out when we take him to the vet on Tuesday.

If anyone knows of someone who would like a large (about 15-18 pounds) cat who needs to be with people, please let me know. No cat novices, please; this cat needs someone who knows exactly how to handle an adult cat of this size, especially when he's feeling frisky.





We're at Canyon Lake, TX, so if there are any Winter Texans nearby who would like to meet him and maybe give him a home, that would be great.

[Wanderlost]

Thank you, Sheryl.

Well, the cold front hit us with a vengeance (by Hill Country standards). No snow, but icy drizzle caused a lot of wreaks (silly people should have stayed home). Today is sunny, after a windy low of 28, still windy and won't get out of the 40s today, but the warmup starts tomorrow. Good. I'm tired of pants and shoes already...I definitely prefer shorts and flip flops.

Thanks to the 11" of insulation we added to our attic on top of what was there and all new doors, the heat pump didn't work too hard. The fireplace is blowing nice, hot air to add to the great room's warmth. This is all very nice, because it means I'm not buried under two cats.

Alex has become an indoor cat again. He did demand to go outside a little while ago, but he ran out, peed, and ran back to the door as fast as he could. Spot has more staying power, but is only outside about 10-15 minutes before he comes back and tries to find the fireplace blower vents. They're above the firebox. He can see the holes, but can't actually reach them. He hasn't yet discovered that they blow at the level of my recliner's back. Alex has, so he's laying above my head.

Mama Doe Lassie has been kind of hit and miss in her visits. I guess she's doing herd things right now.

On Edit: MDL just came up and ate her corn. She looks marvelous. I think the whole street is feeding the herd this year.

Our tiny hummingbird is still here. Haven't seen it this morning, but it spent a lot of time at the feeder yesterday. I'll keep the feeder up as long as it's around. Hope it survived last night, which was the coldest night thus far.

I see WLToo has the enchiladas ready. Later, y'all.

[AppleValley]

I have just discovered this post and have read every one! I started at the very beginning a few days ago and have been sitting, reading here and there since, whenever I have time. It's a great story and would make a good book! I have two cats also, so can relate and I love the stories about the hummers and the deer! I will be keeping up with the reading as you write 🙂

[Wanderlost]

We left the cats alone overnight while we visited the Texas Renaissance Faire. Great fair, but we came home early, when WLToo developed a huge blister on the bottom of one foot. We were both getting over colds, so we did tire out, but I still would have liked to stay longer.

Anyway, when we got home, nothing was destroyed, Alex wasn't damaged, and Spot seemed rather calm, until we opened the door beside the bench he was tucked up on. He shot out the door and stayed outside for a good long while. When we heard snorting noises, we knew someone was bothering the herd. A flashlight pinpointed Black Kitty under the grain wagon. As soon as the light shone on him, he started back to his yard, with two does watching him closely. Luckily, Spot was elsewhere and didn't know about the incursion.

Alex has been very clingy since we got back, to the point that he peed on both of us in his sleep. Wouldn't leave us long enough to potty. He's much better today; left me alone most of the afternoon, so Spot and I could share quality kitty time on the porch. Nothing like December in the Hill Country, where we sit on the porch wearing shorts...

Mama Doe Lassie is back to her normal self. She comes up for a little corn and conversation about the same time each afternoon.

The hummingbird appeared at the feeder, and chased a wasp away from it. I think this one is definitely planning to overwinter here, so the feeder stays up.

Not much else going on, so I'll just say later, y'all.

[Wanderlost]

Last night Spot got up on the back of my recliner, while Alex slept in my lap. He seems to seek out everywhere Alex likes to sleep, and take it over -- except on the bed. They both have favorite spots on the bed, and don't cross the invisible boundary there.

Anyway, Spot gradually slipped off, while sleeping deeply, and eventually he had his hind feet on my shoulder and rested his torso on top of my head. He was very warm...

Haven't seen Mama Doe Lassie for several days, but that's not unusual. WLToo had tossed some old bread out near where we give her corn, and it was gone. No way to know if she ate it or some other critter.

Hmmm, the antihistamine is kicking me to sleep. Nap time, y'all.

[Wanderlost]

Much to my surprise, we have two hummingbirds still living here. They survived our cold snap, and now that we're back in the 70s and 80s, with lows in the 50s, there are lots of bugs to eat. So we'll keep the feeder going for them.

Spot's almost out of the joint compound, so I called the vet to see if we needed a refill. Yep. Sigh, Spot's proving to be an expensive kitty.

He's totally forsaken the Litter Robot, and doesn't want to use Alex' box, either, so we have to take him walkies at night, so he can potty outside before bed. I didn't want to have a dog to take walkies -- but we have a cat who needs it. Sheesh. Well, he does like to walk with us to the mailbox and back, so he gets in 1/3 mile walk most days -- and he does need it.

Alex is suffering from bullied syndrome. Spot both wants to play and also wants to dominate, so we can't leave them together unattended. Alex' safe spot was up on the kitchen cabinets, but Spot learned to get up there. The only true safety he has now is sitting on the back of our recliners, which Spot avoids for some reason. So far. When we have to go somewhere, Spot has to go outside, which he doesn't mind. I'm not exactly sanguine about it, but he's big enough to take care of himself for the most part. I prefer Alex remain inside in safety at his age.

Mama Doe Lassie is back to normal, although she does appear a bit jumpy still. She doesn't eat much corn right now -- lots of good stuff out there, like the acorns falling everywhere. She just loves them. I even asked my sister to bag up all her acorns when she's yard cleaning, and give them to us for MDL. We dump them around the meadow, so MDL doesn't think we're feeding her. If other deer get them, fine.

Well, the pool's warmed up to 75, so I'm going swimming. Later, y'all.

[Dashonthedash]

Maybe it's a young one, and it figures, as long as there's food, why migrate? Remove the feeder to give it a hint that it's time to move on.

[CA_POPPY]

Poor little hummingbird is saying, "Which way did they go???"

[Wanderlost]

The morning after the rescue, we saw the buck limping in the next pasture. He saw us, stopped and looked at us a while, then strolled on. I think he was saying thank you in his own deer way. We still have a lot of bucks in the meadow, but things are calming down. I guess all the does have been bred.

Mama Doe Lassie is back to normal. She appears at the north porch about the same time each day and gets her corn and some cheery dinner conversation. She sleeps on our grass on the north side of the barn. I guess she feels safer around our house.

The seal point Siamese mix showed up last night, so it took until midnight to get Spot back inside. They don't fight anymore, just stare at each other and occasionally chase.

Spot, meanwhile, is in a bit of trouble. Between chasing and attacking Alex, who's way too old for that nonsense, Spot announces he wants to go outside by clawing a leather bench. So the water bottle is back out. Stubborn cat: he'd been meowing to be let out, and we always responded, so why he's back to silently clawing that bench, we don't know.

We still have one tiny hummingbird, so the feeder's still out there. I do hope it migrates today, because there's a cold front on the way that will put some frost on the pumpkins. Can't be good for a tiny little bird.

The autumn wildflowers are still in full bloom, the volunteer broccoli and cilantro are thriving, and what WLToo planted is doing ok, but not great. So when the front gets here Tuesday morning, the tarps will go over the garden for the night. We'd like to eat some of that food at Thanksgiving and Christmas...

Time to go weed whack. Later, ya'll.

[Wanderlost]

This is a beautiful buck. We'd like him to sire some beautiful fawns, not be mere sausage.

[CA_POPPY]

Good man, WLToo! If it's hunting season, some would've taken a different approach to the problem.

[Wanderlost]

Deer rescue time. One of the bigger bucks picked a bad place to jump over our fence. He hung his right rear hoof between the barbed wire top strand and the livestock fencing. WLToo happened to look out and saw him lying there, oh so still.

"Oh, great, we have a dead buck."

But as I looked out the window, the buck looked up and struggled a bit. WLToo got one of his special ladders to climb over the fence and approach from the other side. While he found his bolt cutters, I tried to herd Spot away.

Nooo, Spot saw a buck lying on the ground. He slowly fuzzed up and started stalking his way toward the buck. Oh, great, I thought, we're about to have a very injured cat. The buck had noticed Spot and was watching him with a very jaundiced eye. Me, I wasn't going anywhere near the two -- Mother Nature was in charge now.

The buck struggled a bit more when he saw WLToo approaching on the other side of the fence, but he stopped when I started talking to him. I think he's one of the bucks our neighbor practically hand feeds, :R so he stayed quite still. Spot stopped stalking him when I began talking, and slowly strolled back to me on the porch.

WLToo slowly reached out and snipped the top fence wire, not the barbed wire, and the buck was free. He shot to his feet and blew past the house, not stopping until he'd run out our open gate.

I think he'll use the gate in future...

[Wanderlost]

Rutting season is quite lively today. Mama Doe Lassie came up for her usual bite of corn, but ran away before finishing it. Reason? An 8-point buck was sniffing after her. He stood on our porch, looking in at us for a while, then smelled a doe and dashed off.

Just now, a doe came up on the porch, looked through the window, saw a buck on the other porch, and dashed off. The buck dashed after her.

Seems they're all playing ring around the house. Good thing the cats decided to stay inside today.

WLToo is trying to deal with a sewer blockage, but I guess we'll be calling the plumber again. We've had him on speed dial ever since we bought this unique fixer upper... At least the other bathroom is on its own sewer line.

It was chilly enough this morning that I put on pants instead of my usual shorts. Even closed the windows last night. But we're still a long way from turning on the heater.

Yesterday, a white painted Grumman Goose did splash and goes on the lake, flying right over our house each run. I do love living here, where the entertainment is free and we can watch from our porch -- at least when the porches aren't covered in deer...

Time to cook the ground beef for taco salads. Later, y'all.

[Wanderlost]

It rained at least 8 inches last night. The pool overflowed, WLToo had to dig a trench in the grass to let the water flow fast enough to keep it off the south porch, and enough rain blew under the garage doors to saturate the OSB on the garage door interior walls. No damage anywhere else that we've found.

Had to drive to San Antonio this morning. Lots of water damage along the way. A couple of RVs floated away from the riverside RV park in New Braunfels.

It's a gloriously clear day today, though.

Spot is still asleep, and Alex is stomping all over the two of us, but doesn't want outside. I think he believes being fed his treats before we left means he gets more when we return. Not.

A ten-point buck was in our meadow yesterday, completely ignoring the snorting and stomping from another buck across the fence. I guess rutting season is not yet over around here -- no sign of Mama Doe Lassie yesterday or today.

Spot's been studying the toilet again. I'm trying an experiment and leaving the lid up, just to see if he'll try to use it. If so, great, but we're not going to teach him to flush. He loves to watch the water swirl, and that would probably be a serious increase in our water bill.

I pulled some lower back muscles yesterday, while stretching before I was to lift weights. Used the hot tub, applied heat, taking ibuprofen -- it's helping, but I won't be working out tomorrow. The pool's still in the mid-70s, so I just might swim some laps if it doesn't hurt. I'm still plenty insulated enough that the cooler water temps don't bother me.

Speaking of which, time for more ibuprofen. Later, y'all.

[Wanderlost]

Rats!!! OK, it was only one rat, but it's the first one we've seen since we got here over 3 years ago.

Spot was outside, it was dark, so I went out to call him. Mama Doe Lassie answered my call - walked right up the slope by the pool and scared me, then calmly strolled back down. When my heart slowed down, I started calling Spot again. No response.

I got the big flashlight and went looking. For some reason, I focused the light high up on the garage wall and there it was-a gray rat clinging to the wall just under the roof line. It was looking down. I turned the light downward, and there was Spot, sitting quietly, looking up at the rat and licking his chops.

We don't keep any food outside, ever, so we don't know what could have attracted Mr. Rat to our property. Since we don't have a pellet gun, WLToo just picked up Spot and we all came inside. Did not see the rat today. Maybe one of our snakes got busy and took care of it. I hope so.

I will keep a closer eye on L'Andante, just in case the rat decides to take up residence or start chewing on the electrical lines.

We left Spot outside today, and Alex inside, while we drove my sister to Fort Hood. She's riding with her eldest as he transfers to Virginia, then flying home. We got to say goodbye, then hurried back home, just in case all those clouds had rain or thunderstorms in them. Nope. Got back just at evening feeding time, so both boys were happy.

Spot has been lying under packing paper inside a box since he came back inside and ate dinner. Did not seem concerned that he was outside all day, but showed zero interest in going back out.

Well, it's bedtime. I need to get in there before the cats do, or there won't be a place for me. Later, y'all.

[Wanderlost]

We're back. The last month has been super busy. We started de-cluttering WLToo's mom's house, so she can sell it and move into a retirement community. Talk about manual labor!

The boys had to stay at the vet while we were gone, so they could monitor Spot's bladder (he's ok now). Spot gets kennel "fever," like cabin fever, so he's pretty aggressive to the techs. Luckily, they understand that his aggression is of the "play with me right now!" kind. We don't want to inflict that on the techs again anytime soon, though. Besides, it's much too nice around here now to have to lock up the cats. They'd rather sleep on the porch all day.

Spot and Alex are doing well on the distilled water with vinegar. Took 'em a few days to decide the funny smell didn't mean the water was funky; it was funny watching them sniff the fountain thoroughly before drinking. Now, they just get a drink. Spot likes the joint compound powder; he licks it off the bowl bottom.

Alex has lost a lot of weight, but is healthy. He's just very old. He's also silly enough to start stuff with Spot, then pitch a fit when Spot gets rough. We break up too rough play at least twice a day. So as long as the weather is nice, when we go somewhere for a few hours, Spot stays outside and Alex inside. We don't want to come home and find Spot killed Alex by being too rough. It's just fine with Spot; he piles up on the porch furniture and is perfectly happy.

Last night was pretty humid, so Spot didn't sleep with us. He stayed on the chair and a half, on his binkie. If it's as humid tonight, I'll close up the house and turn the air conditioner back on.

A 12-point buck, really nice looking one, courted Mama Doe Lassie in our meadow last week. If he succeeded, the fawn(s) should be real looker(s).

We still have one hummingbird, so we're keeping a feeder out. Other than that, not much in the way of birds anymore, so it's real quiet out here.

Unfortunately, we have a sudden influx of millipedes, which we naturally find with our bare feet. Yuck.

I'm still swimming, although WLToo won't join me anymore. Says 75 degrees is too cold - I think it's great.

Speaking of swimming, think I'll take a quick dip before supper. Later, y'all.