One of our SpoofDawg V.I.peeps has shared this wonderful story of how she acquired her cats…or rather how her cats acquired her!  Read on…

We’ve always had strictly indoor cats so when a beat up old tom cat showed up in our yard, we did our best to discourage him. No matter how much we yelled, chased, etc he kept coming back so we started feeding him. We couldn’t get near him but he certainly liked the food. My husband, Mike, named him Two-Tone because of his coloration.

A few months later, a black cat showed up. He was much tamer and having learned our lesson with the first one, skipped the trying-to-get-rid-of-him phase & went straight to feeding him. I named him Coal. Fortunately, the two boys got along pretty well. Two-Tone, seeing that Coal was being petted, decided that looked pretty good and slowly started approaching me & letting me touch him. He seemed to learn socialization from Coal.

It took three people & a lot of blood but we got Coal in a cat carrier and to the vet where he was neutered, examined, vaccinated, etc. Two-Tone was another matter. I borrowed a trap from the vet & three weeks later was able to catch him & take him in for the same neuter, exam, vaccinate, etc. routine.

They still stay outside but they have a condo, beds, rugs, scratching posts, cat boxes & all they can eat. In the winter they live in the garage, coming and going as they please. They like that a lot. The picture from 11/19/18 is the two of them in one of their beds. They have three but they usually sleep together in one. the picture from 8/28/18 is Coal, asleep on the bench with Two-Tone (also asleep) draped over him.

I wouldn’t call Two-Tone totally tame but he does let both Mike and me pet him, as long as we don’t sneak up on him. I sit on the ground at night & he comes up for his petting. He even plays with a feather toy once in a while.

If that wasn’t enough, a year or so ago, our neighbor got a dog. Their little cat, Mia, decided enough was enough & moved in with us. She’s the one on the right, next to Two-Tone, in the picture from 11/7/18. She is a feisty little thing. It took a while to get her to quit biting us every time we tried to pet her. She rules the roost – chasing Coal around the yard and batting at poor old Two-Tone. We often find the three of them in one bed though. There has been a recent shift in attitude… for a long time, we treated her as a guest & she acted that way. Now we’ve all seemed to have decided that she lives here. It’s funny how I can feel the change & I think she does too.  I think they all like their little community.