and I hope he’s well.
Mid morning, I thought I saw him down at the corner house. This house has a plethora of juniper bushes, a great place for a cat to hide out. And cats have lived there off and on through the years. I didn’t say anything to Brian, because I thought maybe my eyes were deceiving me. After all, no cat ate any of the food I put out this morning. I ended up bringing it in instead of leaving it out for fly food and let the inside cats empty the bowl.
I keep checking the house down there and I see a cat get up and stretch and start to walk off. I yelled to Brian that I saw him. Brian came over and stood by me, but the cat was gone. I knew I’d seen a cat, but was it KittyMeeze? Brian just looked at me. I think he thought I was losing my mind.
Anyway, I’ve been keeping the binoculars at the ready. And I saw him. I saw KittyMeeze stretched out in the shade.
He’s alive.
I told Brian that we’ve got to get him behind the fence, in the yard. I figure a good way would be to get all the cats in at night, open the gate and put a trail of tuna to inside the fence. Once inside, we’ll have him like we had Red so many years ago.
Brian was concerned that he might have some physical problems because of the attack. I said something to the effect that KittyMeezer spends the nights down at that house, I don’t think he stays here beyond getting food. Brian said that he couldn’t see the coyote catching Meeze down there and bringing him up here.
I pointed out the obvious. Maybe the coyote didn’t actually have Meeze. Maybe he had some other cat. Or, maybe he had a possum. A light went off in Brian’s head. Really, I said, think about it. The food bowl was pushed over to the side of the cement in the entry way. The cats don’t do that, the possum does. When the cats eat, the bowl pretty much stays where it’s been put down.
Then Brian told me “the coloring would be right. I didn’t see a head. I didn’t see the legs. I just saw the back.”
So, we’re hoping that it was, indeed, a possum and that KittyMeezer is not harmed. And we will be doing what we can to get him in the yard. Even if that’s where he lives, it’s a lot better and safer than out front. We’ve got cathouses, we’ve got a bank with pine needles, he’ll have company during the day (until he decides to come inside)....
Here’s hoping it works.
There’s been no sign of Gilligan. But he’s scarce during the day, we’ll need to wait until later. And if and when we try to get him, he’ll need to go into a trap first, so that he can be neutered.
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