a new member in the WSC family {adopted pet}

If you follow me on instragram then you probably already know the story of the stray I dubbed “Duder”. If not, well I’ll fill you in

A few weeks ago K noticed a black cat hanging around at the edge of the yard in the late afternoon. At first, we thought it was the mysterious black cat that we would often catch our cat, Molly, fighting with at night. We only ever saw it at night and being dark, never really got a good look at it. After about a week, suddenly this small-ish black cat was on the paved patio outside our suite. It’s hard to remember now how it all exactly happened, but we ended up feeding the cat. Every night for a week this black cat would come to our patio area, eat like a horse and hang out. Like clockwork he would show up around 8pm and wander off by 11pm. We discovered he was male and assumed, due to his size and mannerisms, was about a year old.

He would follow Molly (black&white cat above) around the patio; every time she got up from where she was laying and move a few feet, he would follow and lay down in the exactly spot she had been. She didn’t seem to mind him, mostly ignored him to be honest. He would come and climb over us, headbutt us, knead into our legs, etc and cry for attention; sometimes he would walk to the edge of the patio with his back to us and cry for no apparent reason. He was very friendly and we assumed he was a neighbour cat; it had only taken a day before he seemed to trust us and wouldn’t back-up if we came near.

This little guy was amusing to watch during our visits. As you can see from the photo above, he’s a bit of a clown!

After a week of feeding him we decided it was time to call the shelter; he was eating so much and still seemed too bony/skinny, there was no way he could be a neighbour cat but first we’d need to catch him. One night while I was calling Molly in around midnight he suddenly appeared again; crying as loud as he could, in his little squeaky voice. We had been out for the evening, so our usually 8pm-11pm visit was missed; I let him into our place after giving him a bowl of food and water outside, thinking this might be the chance to grab him so we could call the shelter in the morning but he had other plans.

He sniffed around, even walked right up to K on the couch who was dead asleep, but as soon as the door closed the crying started again. I ended up letting him out because he seemed distressed; he disappeared into the dark. I put a towel out for him to sleep on in a sheltered area outside the door and went to bed. When Molly woke me up at 4am to go outside, he was sitting in front of the door crying but he darted when I tried to get him inside again.

That afternoon we called the shelter to come get him as he had shown up just after lunch to hang out and didn’t seem to be ready to leave anytime soon. We called to check on him and they had found no tattoo or microchip; they also believed he might be a stray. There were a couple black kittens found on a roof a few weeks prior a few houses down from us but they hadn’t found the mother cat; it’s quite possible that “Duder” was from a previous litter and it’s also quite possible the black cat that Molly fights sometimes is that mother cat, who has been around a few times since “Duder” was taken to the shelter.

What happened next? Well, after a discussion and getting permission to have a second cat from the landlord, we adopted him! He was named “Victor” at the shelter but we only knew him by his case number and our nickname.

This past Saturday I picked him up from the shelter as soon as they opened and brought him home. We’ve renamed him Mike because we thought it would suit him and because we’re funny; thought it would cute to have cats Mike and Molly like the TV show. ha-ha. He’s still adjusting to the name though

When I got to the shelter he was sleeping but quickly woke up when I started to pet him and gave me this look like “Mom, hello, I’ve been waiting forever. Where ya been?!? Let’s go!”. He was easy to put into the carrier and was such a good boy the entire ride, even when I stopped to get more canned food (Best Feline Friends which Molly loves and now Mike does). He only cried once or twice the entire ride, like he knew we were headed home!

Since Molly and Mike had met before, she wasn’t too put out when we brought him home but as he wandered around the house, she made it clear what was hers: a noisy mouse and the bag of catnip. ha-ha. I ended up buying a toy for them both, which they’ve played with together, but she still won’t share the catnip. On Sunday he flopped down on the bag where she had left it, after licking and biting the heck out of it, and when she saw walked right up to swat at him..but being a little stoned on catnip, each hit missed him by about 3 inches. ha-ha.

Since bringing him home she’s hissed at him a few times and is letting him know whose boss, but otherwise she ignores him…especially when he cries. ha-ha.

He seems to be adjusting like a champ though. Within hours of being brought home, he was making himself comfortable around the house, such as when I was putting away the groceries…

At night was a different story, he spent most of Saturday night crying and keeping us all up. Our niece was sleeping over and got about as much sleep as we did which I’m sorry about. I tried to get him to be quiet, but every time I let Molly in or out, he would start again. Early in the morning Sunday, K asked about letting him out and I said typically you’re suppose to keep them in for a week or so to get used to a place..but for the sake of getting a solid hour of sleep, I was attempted to put him out. K took me serious and put Mike out; not a big deal because he was used to the area but at the time it was anyone’s guess if he’d come back or not once “free”.

Sure enough, at 10am, after a few hours of solid sleep, I was woken with a start due to thunder and the sudden sound of pouring rain. When K told me he left Mike out, on went the shoes and sweater. We didn’t have to go far, only to the end of our yard calling his name before he appeared, totally freaked out. I grabbed him and though he fought a bit in my arms, he let us take him inside. He’s been out since, as we gave up trying to keep him in for a week, and like a rebel teenager he stayed out all night Sunday and got home early Monday morning. Tsk tsk.

We got him to our vet on Monday for a check-up and to get a microchip. He was given a clean bill of health and the vet was very impressed with how friendly he was; he is the first cat I know of that has purred at the vets office! Since he’s been fixed, we’re expecting him to put on more weight but we were happy to know his crying wasn’t due to pain and were given some tips on what to do until his sleeping schedule is synced with ours, so we can get some sleep at night. ha-ha. Like living with a newborn..kinda…not really though of course. ha-ha.

So with that, we welcomed a new member into the family on Saturday and we are so happy to have him. There were a number of cats (and dogs) at the shelter and I would have loved to take them home; when we went to visit Mike it was heartbreaking to see them knowing we couldn’t. I hope they find loving homes soon!

Another rough day at the office on Monday for this two…

Molly and Mike are the first pets I’ve had that were adopted. It is different than getting a kitten for sure but it’s almost easier than having to litter train, scratch train, etc.

We got Molly from my longtime friend M, but originally we were just going to be taking care of Molly for a few months while she worked out of town. Those few months got longer and eventually, we all just decided K and I would keep her. She’s about 10 years old so she was no means a kitten when we got her and she is the biggest princess in the world but well behaved.

Mike, well, he’s a good cat but being used to living outside it will take a lot of patience from us to get him used to being behind a closed door. He seems to prefer the door to be open so he can come and go. I am looking forward to the learning experience and I’m hoping he’s a fast learner ha-ha.

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Have you lost your pet or found an animal in British Columbia? Check out the fanpage Missing Pets in BC, which is dedicated to reuniting lost pets with their owners.