Cookie (named by my daughter), an all-black feral male cat, has been coming around for years now. He's a wanderer, but he always seems to average a weekly visit here. We will feed him for a few days, then off he'll go on another "tom cat" excursion.
Cookie has never let us get near him. He'll sit on the patio and stare into the house until he gets someone's attention who will feed him. He has three willing participants who are eager to comply, so he usually gets what he wants rather quickly! When we go out to take the food to the patio, he runs into the back yard for safety. Just this year, however, he began to go into our garage when it was really cold. I set up a large box with a heating pad, nestled in between soft towels. He seemed to appreciate that!
One day Cookie showed up with a nasty, bloody red spot on his back. Another day, he showed up missing some hair on his neck. Cookies "issues" have become so commonplace that my husband and I joke about the newest "boo-boo" Cookie has. About a year ago, he hurt his leg badly and limped for weeks. I was really concerned, but had no idea how to trap him to care for his leg, other than to feed him as much as possible. Fortunately, it healed. Now that he comes into our garage, I might have a better chance at trapping him and having him neutered and released in our back yard, but he is very suspicious. I think he might have been feral all of his life.
I have heard that tom cats are always getting into fights to protect their territory, and that if they were neutered, they would be less prone to fighting. I'm not sure what the truth is there, but I don't like to see an injured animal for any reason.
I can only imagine the problems Cookie might have, from dental issues to the normal "flea/ear mite/intestinal worm" things. God knows what else. Katy Lady still has ear infections that never seem to clear up for long, and Morgan had ring worm that was all over her nose and ears. I thought she would never look normal, but all of her facial hair has been restored.
Next post, I'll write about the cat colony that has started to develop in my back yard.
