This guy has roamed our neighborhood for years. No one has claimed him and no one seems to know where he came from. The best guess is a family that moved away a number of years ago and had lots of cats. They probably left him behind.
He has terrorized the neighborhood cats for years, fighting with them and stealing their food whenever possible. He's killed birds and squirrels and other small creatures. Whenever anyone gets near him, he runs. If he can't run, he hisses and swipes at people and dogs. My dogs have learned to stay far away from him.
In the last couple weeks Cat, as we call him, has adopted our porch as his major residence. We knew he'd been spending nights here for some time, but lately he's been staying all day and doesn't run when we approach him. Last week he didn't run from Samba or Morgan. He didn't hiss at them or try to claw them. It worried me.
This morning we trapped Cat and took him to see Dr B. Because of the personality change, I was afraid he might be sick. I was right. He tested positive for Feline Immunodeficiency Virus. He was a very sick kitty and was highly contagious to all the other cats in the neighborhood.
Rob and I made the decision to have him put down and cremated. It's a terrible decision. We shouldn't have had to make it, but whoever was responsible for Cat didn't live up to their responsibility and someone had to. We're sorry, Cat.
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