I've found a new Buddy
Aug. 27th, 2008 09:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
outsdrA few of us are standing around the office this morning. The back door and the front doors are open; it's warm enough for some air but not hot enough for the air conditioner. Suddenly, walking as though he owns the place, a yellow and white tabby cat comes in through the back door, walks across the office to me, and starts meowing. I bend over to get a closer look, and he practically leaps into my arms.
Well now.
No collar. Fed, but not well-fed. Coat is a little dull. I rub him under the chin and he puddles in my arms and starts purring.
We have no idea where this little bugger came from. We checked the businesses to either side of us; no one had lost a cat. I called the radio station and had them announce a found cat- no response. One of my co-workers had just arrived from the next town over; she postulated that it was perhaps one of her neighbor's cats that had hitched a ride inside the engine compartment of her truck. Another co-worker s sure he belongs to a local woman who just moved to a nursing home, and the cat had made it back to her house (which doesn't explain why the cat decided he needed to be in our office, but this particular co-worker is pretty much ready for the nursing home herself.) Yet another co-worker is certain that the cat is a stray that's been living in the area for awhile, and that he's seen him before.
I didn't want to just let him wander loose in the office, and I didn't want to just chuck him back out in the alley, so I took him over to my vet for a quick look over. Se said he looks fairly healthy, although he has gingivitis which could be indicative of Feline Leukemia. She loaned me a cat carrier to keep him in, and said not to take him home around my cat, just in case.
(Incidentally, besides the cat being so friendly, I wasn't worried about handling a stray cat. Anyone who's been reading this for awhile knows that I'm fully innoculated against rabies.)
Buddy, as I started calling him, did not like the carrier. He howled a lot. And rolled around in the bowl of food I gave him. After he settled down, he'd only start to howl again if I left his sight. Which I had to do at 2:00 p.m. today to go to a doctor's appointment. I gave him a small bowl of water and pointed him at a different coworker to watch, and off I went.
When I got back from the doctor, one of my officemates told me that Buddy had been howling the entire time I was gone, so she thought maybe he needed to go to the bathroom. She got a cardboard lid and scoop some dirt into it from outside, and placed it in the carrier. Buddy immediately spilled his water in the dirt, and then rolled around in the mud. So now he was covered in tuna surprise catfood, mud, and water, but settled down as soon as I got back.
So... no calls all day. I took Buddy back to the vet; we popped him in a bigger carrier for the night and tomorrow he starts some bloodtests and vaccinations and whatever else it takes to prepare him to move in with me. I'll still run an ad in the paper, just in case someone has lost him, but I'm already hoping that no one responds.
Well now.
No collar. Fed, but not well-fed. Coat is a little dull. I rub him under the chin and he puddles in my arms and starts purring.
We have no idea where this little bugger came from. We checked the businesses to either side of us; no one had lost a cat. I called the radio station and had them announce a found cat- no response. One of my co-workers had just arrived from the next town over; she postulated that it was perhaps one of her neighbor's cats that had hitched a ride inside the engine compartment of her truck. Another co-worker s sure he belongs to a local woman who just moved to a nursing home, and the cat had made it back to her house (which doesn't explain why the cat decided he needed to be in our office, but this particular co-worker is pretty much ready for the nursing home herself.) Yet another co-worker is certain that the cat is a stray that's been living in the area for awhile, and that he's seen him before.
I didn't want to just let him wander loose in the office, and I didn't want to just chuck him back out in the alley, so I took him over to my vet for a quick look over. Se said he looks fairly healthy, although he has gingivitis which could be indicative of Feline Leukemia. She loaned me a cat carrier to keep him in, and said not to take him home around my cat, just in case.
(Incidentally, besides the cat being so friendly, I wasn't worried about handling a stray cat. Anyone who's been reading this for awhile knows that I'm fully innoculated against rabies.)
Buddy, as I started calling him, did not like the carrier. He howled a lot. And rolled around in the bowl of food I gave him. After he settled down, he'd only start to howl again if I left his sight. Which I had to do at 2:00 p.m. today to go to a doctor's appointment. I gave him a small bowl of water and pointed him at a different coworker to watch, and off I went.
When I got back from the doctor, one of my officemates told me that Buddy had been howling the entire time I was gone, so she thought maybe he needed to go to the bathroom. She got a cardboard lid and scoop some dirt into it from outside, and placed it in the carrier. Buddy immediately spilled his water in the dirt, and then rolled around in the mud. So now he was covered in tuna surprise catfood, mud, and water, but settled down as soon as I got back.
So... no calls all day. I took Buddy back to the vet; we popped him in a bigger carrier for the night and tomorrow he starts some bloodtests and vaccinations and whatever else it takes to prepare him to move in with me. I'll still run an ad in the paper, just in case someone has lost him, but I'm already hoping that no one responds.
