not a dog man ... nothing against 'em .. quite like most, just never had one .... but always had at least one cat.
Squeak has been with us at least ten years ... just turned up one day ... the day I buried my eldest one. ... think he'd been dumped, as he was reasonably friendly from the off and was glad of a home. he is still terrified of the sound of plastic bags.
Ginger has been hanging about going on three years ... total ferral, absolutely wild mog. taken about 2 years to gain his trust enough to get within 20 ft of him with a bit of grub ... and like any full Tom he'd disappear for days on end.. however this year I have gotten to the point that he will tolerate me stroking him - on his terms - and has stopped bullying Squeak
.
he eats on top of that wall and he turned up a couple of weeks ago, with his left nut hanging out of his scrotum
... did not look good.
Local vets're open 7 days a week - they'm that busy - rang them and told them I wanted to bring him in .. when I could capture him ... got me cat box out the shed and stuck it in the down stairs shower room, in a corner, door open. ...
didn't see him for a good 24 hrs and eventually showed up on a Sunday morning - hungry, fortunately ... coaxed him in through the back door a few inches at a time, until I could close the door behind him - he has NEVER been in the house before and went mental ... launched himself at the half glass door in the kitchen and was pretty shocked when he stopped abruptly against the glass - three times - ..
managed to calm him a bit and ushered him back into the utility and then the shower room, where he shot straight into the 'sanctuary' of the cat box
... shut the door and he sat down cool as cucumber
no paws an' claws out the mesh door - nothing - just sat there
...
stuck him in the car and he went to meet the vet ... as anticipated he was not gonna co-operate and they stuck him into a crush to sedate him ...
up shot was he's now totally nutless .. the left one was septic and'd've probably seen him off in a few more days ...he got a few shots - long acting antibiotic and some painkilling drugs and home he came ... kept him in as long as I could, in a metre cube cage I made years ago for a very poorly mog, in the polytunnel.
That wasn't much longer than after the anaesthetic wore off and he wanted out, so fed him and he was off .. was very surprised to see him the following morning for brekky, like nothing'd happened
don't think he'll ever be a house cat, but for a wild animal he's learnt to trust us well and seems to have adopted a 'retired' sort of life .. with no nuts to 'motivate' him to roam, he's here most of the time, knows what time food is and actually seems to enjoy a good stroke - still on his terms though ..
makes no attempt to follow Squeak into the house and doubt he will TBH ..