A friend of ours, who lives in a rural area up the valley a bit, is a cat magnet. I'm sure if we could read Cat, we'd be able to see the signs directing all felines to the abode of the sucker.
I think the current count is half a dozen. He emailed this morning, as follows...
I told my friend I'd ask the TCS crew to send get well vibes for Boots.There has been a B&W cat hanging around here from time to time for a year or so. He actually "belongs" up the street and used to share the barn up there with Mr Chumbles before he decamped. (Oddly, the two don't get along, and any time "Boots" turned up, Mr C and Joe would start the alarm sirens and he would slink away.) But last week when he turned up he was obviously limping. I ran into his "owner" (or in cat parlance, "slightly significant other") last Friday and he said he had noticed the limp but that he (Boots) had taken off. We agreed that he needed to go to the vet and get taken care of and agreed to split the cost. Anyway, I started leaving the back door ajar at night in case he came in to feed, knowing that Mr C and Joe would raise the alarm. But he didn't come back.
Last night I closed the door and went to bed. Early this morning I went downstairs just to check there, and sure enough, he was sleeping in the "visitor's wicker basket". When I called the folks up the street they said he had been in one of the bedrooms there last night but had escaped around 3am!
So I got him into the carrier and put him upstairs in a spare room and he's going to the vet today at 11:45 to get the works- neutering, shots and his leg looked at.
Boots...
II
I have just returned from delivering him unto the hands of the vet. She thinks his hip may be dislocated. He's getting rabies shots and neutering- the lot. But he'll be a happier puss for all that.
I must say he was very docile this morning. I picked him up and put him in the carrier and he didn't make a sound all the way to the vet's. Now if only the other cats would accept him, that would be the icing on the cake.
III
The vet just called with good news and bad news. The bad news is that she can't get the hip back in the socket as the injury happened too long ago (about a week as far as I can tell.) So she will have to remove the hip ball. But the good news is that apparently cats heal quite well from this sort of surgery and he should be back on his feet in about a week. The other good news is that since he is a "stray", she's waiving her labour fee for the operation, so with the shots, neutering, anaesthetic etc., etc, it should be just under $500, which is a relief. The neighbour and I are going to split it, so that makes it easier to swallow.
I'm not sure where he will live during recuperation. I can keep him in an upstairs room here if the neighbour can't take him. It'll be tough on an outdoor cat- Mr Chumbles hated being indoors for three days after being neutered.