My Summer Foster Cat

The night before I was to fly back to Germany, two summers ago, a stray Tom Cat decided that he knew just exactly where he should go to get some help.   To my friend's yard... knowing that I would find him.   We had been gone all day long; doing the last round of shopping/errands before I was to leave the next day.   We got home about 4:00.   As I was unloading my stuff from my friend's car... I could hear a 'pitiful low meowing' but, I couldn't figure out where it was coming from.   I finally spotted this gray tabby cat, hiding behind a bench in front of my friend's house.  This cat had been in her yard once several days earlier.


I leaned down and started talking to him and noticed that he was injured.  His head was all swollen out of shape right over his eye and all the way back from his forehead to the back of his head.   I could tell that he'd been in a fight and that the wound had probably sealed shut and the large swollen area was likely infected.


I got the cat and begged my friend, Annesia to drive us to the Vet's office; I told her that I'd pay for his care- but, that I could tell that he really needed some help.   So, off we go... their office was closing in 30 minutes and we were told to just wait in the lobby.   So, there I was with this 'stray' full-grown Tom Cat, that I had only seen once, wrapped up in a towel so that I could help hold and control him.  I kept talking softly to him... especially since this was clearly his first visit to a Vet's office.   Wouldn't you know it; not one but 3 very large dogs came into the waiting room too.  I kept the cat's eyes away from the huge dogs that were only inches away.


Finally, it was our turn.   The vet was short-handed and I had to hold the cat down while the Vet cut his 'swollen infected' area open to let the infection drain.   Of course this was pretty traumatic for the cat; but, somehow he knew that we were trying to help him and he didn't try to bite or scratch us.   The Vet told me that if I hadn't brought him in; that he would have been dead within a couple of days.  He was given a shot and some meds to help fight the infection.


So, we brought 'Tom the cat' into my friend's hot garage and set up a couple of fans to help circulate the air.   I made the cat a scrambled egg.  I figured he needed a little pampering after his ordeal.  My friend didn't want him in her house; especially since he was an injured stray cat.   I checked on him several times and he was laying down on an old soft cat bed that we found in the garage.


This cat was such a sweet cat and clearly not meant to live the life of a 'stray' male Tom Cat.  He was not a fighting type of cat.  My friend decided to keep him and paid for his neuter 'surgery'... he still lives outside.


He still remembers me when I go to visit my friend in the summer.  I think he knows that I was the one that saved his life and helped him find a good, safe place to live.   I can't have pets in my overseas homes and it's kind of nice to get to have a 'summer time' pet.

The first photo is Tom after 2 years.  He's filled out and has grown a lot since the summer that I helped him out.   He looks a lot healthier, doesn't he?

Tom says, "Isn't it time to brush me... ???"    This was after 1 year after his rescue.  

Oh boy, there comes "iwouldratherbeknitting'... I know she'll pet me!   This was one year later.