Thanks, Ally! ❤️

I deleted after I started thinking … what if my neighbors or someone who knows them saw it? Highly unlikely, and they’d probably be amused, but I just thought it best.

I really appreciate all the sweet replies! He said to thank you all. 😻

He spent the night curled up next to me. I let him out this morning to do his business, then he came back in and is napping on my bed. He’s still feeling a bit bad, I can tell, but I think is improving.

Pics from my thread — when he was in the ”No cats allowed” guest room. :D

He’s my sweet boy. Everyone at the vet’s just loves him and they all pass him around. :)

Love that sweet boy!

You're such a kind soul Jilly. I'm so pleased he's doing better.

I'm also glad to hear you deleted it, because any other answer would have probably upset me. LOL.

He's got the most gorgeous head. That face, that head.....they make me want to snuggle him. Tell him he's a special boy, he's got people he's never even met adoring him from afar.

🥰!!

NOC has a twin sister. This is Lacey. She is sending Doc get well wishes.❤️🐱

Sorry, spellcheck changed NOC to Doc!!🙄

Nora, Lacey is so beautiful! NOC says thank you! ❤️

Glad he's better.

GF texted me yesterday, wanted me to go with her to pick up a deceased cat. She saw it on her way home from spin class. It was a Bengal wearing a pink collar. No chip. A vet down the street will cremate for free. Photo has been taken for anyone looking.....but....only one family was missing a bengal...and they said theirs had 4 white tipped paws. Geez....how many people buy an expensive cat...then let it loose in the woods...?

Love seeing cats that are cared for...like NOC is...

Thanks, nicole.

How sad, that poor baby. :(

NOC has been under the weather? I hope the little guy is feeling better.

Thanks, bl … yes, the little stinker was fighting outside again. He is neutered, but no one told him. :D

He suffered an awful bite/gash on his shoulder. He got shots — antibiotics and steroids.

Jilly I didn't see a post about NOC being infirmed. I'm so sorry he had a bad fight outside. : ( How nice you are caring for him and he is mending at your house. We used to have a big older cat who was neutered days before we got him from the shelter. As far as he was concerned, he had not received a certain procedure. I guess that does happen sometimes where effects don't really set in.

We lost our 15 year old formerly feral kitty on Sunday. Coyote. We live in the forest. Cats and other smalls should not go outside here. But our strong willed kitty was not going to be changed from her love of outdoors and overseeing her queendom. The battles we had over outside or not... We knew this would happen one day. She was a smart and stealthy cat but old age and resulting frailness got the best of her. Many of us tend to view this as departing on her primal terms and not ours. Our grief...as high as the mountain we live on.

Give NOC an extra hug and chin scratch for me today.

DLM and SEA, thank you!

Aww, Leo is such a cutie, DLM! I love ginger tabbies.

SEA, how awful, I’m so sorry about the loss of your sweet girl! Big big hugs, my heart hurts for you. 💔

Thanks Jilly. Dab tear.

It just hurts so much, I know, my friend. :(

Sea Sea - I am so sorry. That is just so hard and like many, understand your level of grief. We also live in a forested area in the hills and we lost 2 cats to coyotes. I know what you mean by kitties who just cannot/will not be changed from their need to be outside.

Our next two cats had absolutely no interest in going outside.

Thank you blfenton.

Exactly what you said. Thanks for understanding. Knowing the dangers doesn't seem to lessen the grief. Plus, cats are so stoic. You know they are aged, but they don't let on just how far along they've declined. Never a whiner, unless she refused to stay inside. : ( I'm really glad you have or had cats with no interest to go outside. Much safer and no battles at the door.

Aw Sea Sea - I'm sorry - that's a hard loss. I'm a believer that a cat who wants to be indoor/outdoor probably leads a richer albeit likely shorter life than being all indoor. I know not all people feel that way. There are many bargains we strike for the love of a pet. That's just one.

Thank you DLM

Very true and so well said. So nice of you to share. Means a lot. Thank you, again.

Here’s our couch tiger just now. You can see the wound up in his shoulder area. It’s very gory up close.

My poor baby. I think he’s suffering some side effects from his shots (plus the injury itself hurting).

He loves his green blankie.

Big hugs NOC/couch tiger. Feel better soon!

SEA SEA, I'm so sorry for the loss of your kitty.

Jilly, maybe I missed it, but have you ever had a serious chat with NOC's owners about the situation? My friend also had a NOC who was always at their place. The owner was rather cavalier about it. Oh haha, he would say. Finally my friend said, look, the cat needs medical attention, I will pay for it, and then NOC will become OC. The guy acquiesced, and OC lived many happy years with the people who truly loved him.

We used to have an NOC that did become OC. His technical owners were moving and asked us if we would like to keep him as he spent so much time at our place and would probably miss us terribly. He lived to the great old age of 20 and was the best cat ever.

I think it has progressed to that … he spends nearly all of his time with us.

He’s a very loyal cat, and will go visit his people for a bit, but I really think he considers us home.

I know they love him, but they keep rescue and foster dogs (mainly Pitties), which take up a lot of time and money. I really think if push came to shove, they’d be fine with us taking him (in the event of moving, etc).

NOC 2, Minka the Tortie, has become OC full time. She never, ever goes back next door. She’s terrified of dogs. Strangely, they never ask about her at all.

When she first came over, she was in awful shape — she’d licked every bit of hair off both legs, was afraid to let us get close, very skittish, (but wanted to be by us, if that makes sense), was too skinny, seemed depressed, stressed and anxious, etc. Now she’s fat and happy as can be and very loved. DH is her person, she always wants to be in his lap, licking him, playing. It’s the sweetest thing to see. She’s like a completely different cat now. :)

Happy girl in DH’s lap. See her ear — we think a dog chewed it, but not sure. It’s half gone.

They love each other:

Minka:

My Boy on his log. We brought a piece of driftwood home, he LOVES it. Scratches it, lays on it …

Don’t tell him I posted this one:

There is a cat down at the other end of my block that is very gregarious, visited all the neighbors regularly, and became known as "The Mayor" of the block. When his owners had to move, all agreed that The Mayor should stay. He was adopted by the family next door, and he is still there several years later, still making his rounds!

Aww, raee, how sweet!

Jilly, I asked this in the topic that was deleted, but can you keep and make him an indoor cat and not say anything to your neighbor, or just ask them outright if you can keep Mr. Kitty? There was probably another male cat roaming about and started the fight. Cats are very territorial, even female kitties who thinks the whole house is hers and chases away the other cats who are twice her size! I digress.

Today I took a nap with Raven who always cuddles at my side when she suddenly jumped up and woke me at the same time. I looked at her and she started dragging her bottom from one end of the quilt to the other. DH immediately went to the vet to get worm pills. That was a first! 🤦‍♀️

Oak, he’s been an outside cat his entire life, it would be torturing him to keep him inside full-time. I wish I could. I am doing my best to keep him in at night, since that’s usually when the fights happen.

We think there’s a new cat on the scene, and he’s defending his territory.

Aww, poor Raven! We used to deal with that a lot with our barn cats.

J, I know what you're talking about. Raven was allowed to go in and out during the day, but had to stay inside at night. During winter she had to stay inside. Ever see a cat try to climb a wall? I have many many times. A couple of weeks ago she started climbing a shelf above the toilet where I kept hand towels, wash cloths, and other things. She finally knocked the whole thing down. grrrr. But she's getting used to staying inside except it makes her fatter. :)

😄

Jilly, NOC might make the transition to indoors better than you might think, especially after an injury and good care.

I had an adult feral cat hanging around my house -- clearly enamoured with my cat, but he could bolt faster than anything I'd ever seen when a person was in sight. Should have named him Flash or Bolt. Anyway, he became injured and I took him to the vet -- got him checked out and before I left (and a lot of tears) instead of them taking him to the shelter as I begged them to (right -- what was I thinking?), I wound up paying to have him vaccinated, neutered and declawed because my girl was a dumped kitty who had been declawed by a previous owner. He had to be an indoor cat then -- total change from feral to indoor in a couple of surgeries and an overnight stay. But he was a total marshmallow when I went to pick him up. He LOVED being a housecat! Such an endearing soul -- one of my favorite cats ever.

Put me in the hope NOC becomes OC and becomes an indoor cat -- especially at night.

Lascatx, I wish he would.

We experimented with him that awful winter of a few years ago — he stayed in a lot. But even then, he got very agitated if he couldn’t go outdide. When it’s nice weather and we try to keep him in longer than he wants (he usually naps inside for hours then wants out), he cries and cries at the door and won’t take no for an answer. :D

That is so sweet about your kitty! I’m glad he found you. :)

Keeping some cats inside is....hard. I know it is a controversial topic. I have no pearls of wisdom there. It is another one of those cost/benefit things that comes out different for different people and different cats.

Love seeing all the photos.

Sea sea, I am so sorry. 💔

Our kitty who lives in her heated tack room in our barn has shown no interest in transitioning into our house. We offer her entry into our house mudroom if she's hanging around the house but she always goes right back out after a quick explore. She's 8 now and a total cuddlecrumb at the barn so like others, I wish she would become a house kitty, but we'll keep following her little kitty preferences. She's going to the vet for her rabies shot next week and luckily she's easy to move from arm to crate. Staying outside does not make her thinner, though. Way too many 'between meals mice' for our chonk.

SEA SEA, I totally get it and am sorry you are going through this sad time.

Jilly, I'm glad he found us too. The universe has had a way of bringing us the best pets -- Lulu now among them. We did let the former feral cat go out in the courtyard garden or with us on the driveway, but he always came in at night. Same as our other cats. Maybe NOC could adjust to something like that or will be a bit more stay at home after this injury? If not, I wouldn't want to break his spirit. You do what you can.

I don't want to rain on Ally De or Jilly's replacement thread here...

But a quick thank you to those who have offered comfort for me and the memory of our dear formerly feral kitty.

She actually had the happiest life of all the cats we've had. She was born under our shed. She lived her entire life on our property. Her first two years she wouldn't be around us when we went outside. If we entered the backyard, she exited, then returned when we went inside. She was a skilled rodent huntress and was healthy. At two y.o., she started staying in the yard when we were out there, but at a distance. This led to us making her a house out of a large bucket turned on it's side for the winters with dry towels for a floor and a door made out of a blanket. She lived in her 'house' for some time and one day, she did come inside the real house, and the rest is history, but she never did like being inside. We were grateful she would spend the night inside as often as she did and always during winter. We spend a lot of time outside and she was our constant companion out there, and loved us as much as we loved her. She was a dear and sweet cat that we had to allow to be herself and live life on her terms. Thank you for the condolences. Dab tear.

SEA, she was such a gorgeous girl. ❤️

I can feel the love you shared through your words. You clearly gave her a wonderful, safe, healthy, and very loved world. ❤️

Aw Sea Sea....what a great life you gave her. You accepted her for who she was. Such a beautiful girl. I am so sorry.