Open Thread #750

Monday evening after work on March 9, 2009 I went out with food and water to try to make friends with a stray kitten I had seen a few times. That didn’t work out but I had a brief glimpse of what turned out to be Dobby so I headed off in that direction. He ran and hid, but when I got close he must have smelled the food because he decided I was his new best friend. While he was alternating between eating and rubbing against my legs I reached down to pet him and was shocked by how skin-and-bones we was.

He had all-you-can eat dinners Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday, and then Thursday morning I decided to make my big move. I called the vet to verify that they could take him, called work to day I wasn’t coming in, headed out with food, water & a carrier, and was surprised that I didn’t immediately see him. But after a while I could hear his little meows. The undeveloped area where he hung out had a fence with vertical bars that were far enough apart to let a cat get through but not a dog (which made it a perfect hang-out for lots of stray cats over the years), but the fence also had a horizontal bar a few inches above the ground, and Dobby had gotten stuck trying to pass under it. He had cleverly chosen a spot with lots of bushes so I had to home in on the sound and then crawl under bushes to pull him out.

Then it was food, water, affection, shove him into the carrier and off on our merry way to the vet.

Jerk promptly expressed his gratitude for all the food by pooping in the carrier.

I had planned to have him vaccinated and “fixed” and then take him home, but the vet wasn’t sure he could survive that in his condition (less than 5 1/2 pounds for a full grown cat is not good) and wanted to keep him over the weekend. When I picked him up Monday evening he was up to 6 pounds 2 ounces, despite the loss to two important bits.

He was so weak at first that he couldn’t even go up and down stairs, but as he recovered there were some epic interactions between him and Voldemort. Dobby was indoors-only but Voldemort spent much of his time outside having quality time with birds and mice, so he mostly wanted do rest when he was inside while Dobby wanted to play or cuddle. Voldemort would try to escape by sitting on furniture that his new friend couldn’t get up onto, but as Dobby gradually gained strength I’d see him standing on his hind legs trying to pull himself up onto Voldemort’s refuge and getting a series of rapid slaps in the face, which never managed to deter him.

Eventually Dobby got strong enough to jump up onto desks and Voldemort had to resort to more passive/aggressive measures. I’d often see him grooming Dobby until Dobby decided to escape. Often there would be a headlock and forced licking. With his coordination/neurological issues Dobby never managed to clean himself like a normal cat, so I was perfectly happy to see Voldemort licking his face and the inside of his ears. I certainly wasn’t about to do it…

Open Thread #750
Source: Buzz Pinay Daily