For about a year, our elderly neighbor left food out for a neutered tuxedo cat with a clipped ear, but never brought him inside to live with her three cats. When she moved to assisted living in January, we were unaware that the cat my wife referred to as Mr. Beefy, had been left behind. I was smoking a pork shoulder on our back porch in February and found him licking up the drippings. He let me approach, so I started feeding him regularly and made him a small shelter, which he used until the weather got warmer. Throughout the pandemic, he’s spent most of his days in our yard and nights on our porch. He passes much of the time sleeping under the bushes or sunning on our potting bench. We can summon him at any time by clanging his food bowl and he always has fresh water. He has not missed breakfast since the day he arrived.
Our elder dog Mugsy is a cat chaser and takes off after Mr. Beefy whenever he sees him in our fenced yard. We have managed to teach him to watch and walk right past the cat while we praise him and provide treats as a reward, but once the cat is in motion, prey drive kicks in. Beefy is very affectionate and will sit in my lap and purr indefinitely. He acts like an abandoned pet and does not seem feral. We brought him to the vet in July and got him vaccinated and tested for FeLV/FIV.
My wife and I have adopted four rescued cats over the years, two pairs of sisters. They were indoor cats and three of them lived into their late teens. One died of a congenital heart problem. We have never had outdoor cats and would never have thought to put our cats outdoors. It seems like Beefy is our cat now, but it's not possible to bring him inside at this point. Any suggestions for caring for an outdoor cat would be appreciated.
