Hi All,

I'm Ian, I'd like to introduce myself and my *cat crew* (long post alert, but it could easily have been much longer)

First up are #1 cat Bola and #2 cat Fudge, Bola being a black tom and Fudge a ginger+white girl



Bola was found as a very young kitten in my garden some 4 to 5 years ago. I thought he was lost initially but it turned out he had a home as his mother was a daily visitor here and they were together, tho' I didn't realise that at the time. In the end I put a paper collar on him with a message asking his owners to contact me, they did but weren't overly concerned about him being out at all times of day and slowly he adopted me. I'd often find him in my garden at any time from 5am up till gone midnight some days. Sadly his mother suddenly stopped calling and as I never found out where their home was/is, I had no way of finding out what happened to her.

He's the most friendly towards other cats, cat I've ever seen, I'm convinced he invites all the other local cats to my house. He's recently tarnished this record somewhat by taking a dislike to a new-ish neighbours 2 toms and will now regularly be found spoiling for a fight with them in their own garden

Fudge is the oldie here at 15+yo and she's been with me for 14 of them. She used to live next door but like Bola, slowly came to adopt me tho' this time it was with my neighbours/her original owners blessing. She's not a fighter, beyond hating one of next doors cats, Jimmy, but is very, very feisty and won't take messing about from any cat. She's the most photogenic cat I've ever seen, I've yet to take a bad (imo) pic of her.


Next is #3 cat, Max (you'll see a pattern here) pictured with Bola



He also lived next door but over the past year has pretty much adopted me, again with his owners blessing. I think this is partly due to him being serial carpet scratcher, they probably think better my carpets than my theirs. He most likely prefers it here because he doesn't get on with the dog next door.

That said, they also have two other cats, Jimmy and Dexter who must spend more time in my house than their own, but at least they do go home.

Lastly is Stripey Tail



I can't really claim him as mine as he uses my house as a feeding station and rarely stays beyond that. He's not feral, semi wild perhaps and almost certainly a stray as I've seen him on his travels well over a mile away from my house. I'd been feeding him outside for a while when he appeared one day with a fearsome injury to his neck and shoulder area. By the look of it a dog must have had hold of him and as far as I could tell it went untreated, which suggests he doesn't have a home, or at least one with owners who care about him.

Hopefully the regular food he got here helped him recover and he eventually became brave enough to come into the house, but being unneutered he's very much a tom-about-town. Even if I could handle him it'd be pointless making a appt to have him neutered as he comes and goes when he pleases, so I couldn't guarantee him being here to take to the vets.

I can't go without mentioning the fabulous and still much missed Beckett, who had enough personality/character for 10 cats and 3 years ago was pts at only 18 months old due to kidney failure after being one of several cats who were deliberately poisoned after falling foul of a local pigeon fancier. Not that we could ever prove he was responsible, but there's no real doubt he was. He was the first cat in years who was officially mine and was Max's brother, I got him from my neighbours when they took them on as kittens.

A pic of Beckett at the vets. 20 minutes later he'd been pts, how ironic that the last pic I took of him was also the best



They might have been from the same litter, but they were chalk and cheese in both looks and temperament, Beckett was outgoing and adventurous from day one while Max hated being outside and would yowl the house down to be let back in within seconds of being put out. He's fine about this now, but it took a long, long time before he found his *outside feet*.

A mention for Buddy as well, another semi adoptee, tho' he had at least 3 homes, his real, mine and elsewhere. He first arrived in my garden as a kitten and soon became best friends with Bola, but as he remained unneutered, once hormones took over he'd often disappear for days on end. I last saw him about 9 months ago one Friday night at 11pm and I *knew* something was wrong when I woke up on the Saturday morning, even tho' him not being here wasn't unusual. Cue the usual door knocking and posters, but nothing. I had a report from a friend of a cat being involved in a rta nearby which more or less fitted the time he'd been gone, but the council had removed the body by the time I arrived at the scene. Annoyingly, even tho' he was wearing a ID barrel the council don't check for this on cats, nor do they keep records of fur colour, etc, so I don't know if this was Buddy but I've assumed it was.

I leave the shed door open with a couple of warm and dry boxes for any passing cats who needs shelter and they've been well used over the years. I don't think there's a cat within 5 miles who hasn't at least called into my garden, if not used the boxes or tried the flap at some point. There must be half a dozen regular visitors who suddenly stopped calling, I can only think the worst has happened to them, but I'll never know for sure.

All this might make it seem like I'm a cat-napper, I'm not, somewhere hidden on my person is a very powerful cat magnet. I hope I never lose it.

Ian

Hi and welcome to the forums. Lovely cat family.

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Thanks for the welcome

That's only about half of them tbh, tho' the others are just passers by who call regularly. I don't encourage them in, but don't chase them off if they're brave enough to venture in thro' the flap.

It wasn't that long ago I found 9 cats in the house when I got up that morning, and only 4 were *mine* as such. I swear there's a local cat-club were they all meet and pass on tips on which houses are a soft touch

Right now I have a uninvited guest in a eldely black tom who suddenly appeared from nowhere. I'm guessing he's a stray as his right ear had recently been literally split open, no doubt a fight that he lost, but it was a mess and had clearly not been seen by a vet. The ear has all but healed now thankfully, hopefully the regular food he gets here helped him recover/fight off any infections.

Btw, I'm also from High Peak.

Ian

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RIP Black Tom and Beckett, not just cats, they were my cats and the best ever.

Bless you for feeding and helping all those cats!

Gorgeous pics, cats do love to sunbath on top of bins.

Thank you for sharing all their stories and history. You clearly love them all.

WOW!! Hi and welcome!

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Mr Benjamin: Shih Tzu
Oscar: Shih Tzu
Casper: Snobby puss
Urwin: Tortoise
RIP Candy: Long haired Colly
RIP Shane: GSD
RIP Saxson: GSD
RIP Blaze: GSD
RIP Buddy: cockatiel
RIP Lucky n Fluff: Hammys
RIP Cheeky n JoJo: Budgies
RIP Diggit: Nether-land Bunny

welcom to pf lovely cat pics

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A PETS LOVE IS WORTH A THOUSAND HEARTS

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Thanks for the welcomes folks

I love cats and they know it, hence so many visitors. I'll just post a couple more stories of fav, but now sadly gone, feline friends (pics later when I can find them)

I'd been feeding a old ginger tom outside for a while (no surprise in that I named him Ginger Tom) but he never ventured into the house, till the day I got back from the vets after having the fabulous Beckett pts. I not only found GT inside, but he was curled up asleep on what had been Becketts fav chair, it was as tho' he'd told GT he wouldn't be back and there'd be room for him here now.



He was a giant of a cat and had probably been a bruiser in his prime, but was so well behaved here with not a hint of trouble with my lot. His most endearing habit was watching the things #1 cat, Bola, did in the house then trying to copy him (it's with undying gratitude he never copied Bolas habit of catching frogs and bringing them into the house at silly o'clock and waking me to show them off) GT suddenly stopped calling here, I didn't see him anywhere for well over 6 months, then right out of the blue I found him in the kitchen one day, but that was it, I never saw him again. He had obvious health issues and it may be too fanciful, but I'd like to think he called that last time to say thanks for giving him food and shelter before finding his own way to Rainbow Bridge.

Next is William, I'm not being unkind when I say he was the ugliest cat I've ever seen, but he more than made up for that by having the sweetest of natures. I had an idea he lived nearby but couldn't be sure, tho' it turned out he did and had several homes, but I discovered that in pretty unpleasant circumstances.



He came in at 11pm one Sunday night, said hello then rushed up to get his head down on my bed as usual. 10 minutes later I heard a tremendous thump upstairs and assumed Bola had invited him to a play fight. I shouted upstairs for them to stop it and silence, much too quite so I nipped up to check. There was no sign of Bola but I found William on the bedroom floor, the angle he was lay at made me think he'd somehow broken his neck and was dead He wasn't, but something was clearly badly wrong and needing a vet as he'd miaow but wasn't moving and barely breathing.

I don't have transport myself so I took a chance on knocking on the door of the house I thought he lived at. Thankfully I was right, they rushed up to see him while I phoned the emergency vet, then they took him there. It turned out he had a tumour pressing on his spinal cord which by the time they'd got to the vets had completely paralysed him, which sadly was inoperable so he was pts. The breathing problems were due to his lungs filling with fluid and even tho' paralysed by then, when the vet drained his lungs he purred like a mad-cat.

Seeing a cat go from being apparently healthy to deaths door in so short a time was a first for me, something I hope never to see again, tho' in retrospect going this way is perhaps better than seeing them suffer over time.

Ian

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RIP Black Tom and Beckett, not just cats, they were my cats and the best ever.

Awwww sad stories and lovely pics. Its seems you are a cat magnet, and they just know you will help them.

It is lovely of you to take the time to post all the catsstories and add pics. Its a shame more people haven't seen your thread. Maybe a mod could put it in the cat chat section where more members could see it? Or maybe Ian you could copy and paste it and put a copy there. So all us cat lovers can see it, and you will get more replies.

x

Hey Ian..welcome.

Lovely Furfamily you have

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You obviously adore your feline friends.

Welcome to pf

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~Rachel~