They got me while I was weak.
Just last week my oldest cat Ajax succumbed to the big C. I’d been giving him a lot of care and was missing not only him but the feeling of being needed. So obviously I was ripe to play sucker to someone new.
Yesterday I saw a gorgous, fluffy, picture-perfect young black & white cat at at Pet Smart. His markings were very close to Ajax’s, and I almost took him home.
Today I get word that one of the on-site barn cats needs to find a home - 18 years old and recently blinded, but extremely good with cats & people. He’s a huge favorite with a a goodly percentage of the museum visitors, and there has been a lot of concern about what would happen to him. Oh, and he is also a b&w moggie, of course.
So, there were my choices - adorable, adoptable Hallmark card cat, or ancient, blind, probably-not-housebroken cat who is likely to cost me a fortune at the vet before dying as soon as I get really attached. No big surprise - sucker me chooses the wreck.
I’m arranging to pick him and his vet records up asap. Pictures available soon, although I may wait until I can show before & after - one eye actually ruptured and he’s a mess at the moment. It will be interesting to bring an blind outdoor cat inside. Hope he can be housetrained, but what the hell, I don’t like the carpet in the house anyway.
Someone at work sent me the obligatory kitty pics to post:
Terrill a couple years ago at the 1900 Farm, posing for his Christmans card:
http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii264/NijelTheDestroyer/?action=view¤t=Terrill.jpg
Terrill and another barn cat, Jimmy, at the 1900 Farm House:
http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii264/NijelTheDestroyer/?action=view¤t=1900FarmCats.jpg
Congratulations! Of course the wreck was the one you chose, I would have really been disappointed with any other decision.
I’ll share a little, too, I just put my Bunnie down last Monday. She had an intestinal tumor that grew from nothing you could find to a palpable golf-ball size within a month. In her last 4 days, I could feel the thing getting bigger each day. It was hard. Really hard, to watch her deteriorate so fast.
I’ve got a tiny apartment, and only room for 3 cats, and of course working at a feline rescue, I know a lot of cats that need homes! So I’ve got an opening, not that my Bunnie could ever be replaced, but there’s this one at the shelter I’ve known for a couple of years who gets passed over by staff and volunteers because she’s, well, not the most “fun” cat around here.
Her name’s Lemuria, she has an old brain injury that has affected how her brain interprets her vision. So, healthy, but strange. We’ve made friends over time, and I think she’s a good fit for my household, plus I just don’t think she’ll ever be adopted otherwise. She’s having a sedation exam tomorrow (can’t examine her while awake), and then I’m taking her home.
I think you’re very brave to take on this guy, I have to say I’ve known a few people who’ve taken hospice cases home from this shelter, and they’re the most caring, unselfish people I could ever imagine. This puts you in that category!
Good luck with him. I really hope you can get him healthier so he can have some quality time with you.
Thanks SDT, This isn’t the first time we’ve taken in geriatric or sick cats. Never seems intentional, but hey, you take who shows up. We have a vet out at the museum who sees the big animals gratis and keeps an eye on the farm cats, and given his age I’m sure they would have put him down if they thought he was unrecoverable. Instead the staff at the site really wanted to get him into a family home for his last months/years. A pretty good retirement, especially in this economy.
I’m told thousands of school kids have petted him over the years, and even though he stopped earning his keep as a mouser, the farm staff kept him on and fed him. If it wasn’t for the fact that most of them could not afford to take on his care or live in small, pet-unfriendly apartments he would have had a place weeks ago. I’ve already had three calls tonight with people wanting to anxiously be assured that I’m taking him to keep, not put down (I’m one of the bosses and rumor went around that he was being taken away for “customer service” reasons. I’ve invited several people to come around and visit him whenever they feel like it, and promised to take and post pictures regularly.
I recognized the double back doors at 1900 Farm immediately from visits during my school days. I’m just down in Ames but unfortunately can’t take a blind, 1900 model farm kitty - here’s one reason. But good luck with placing the old fella.
You’re good folk for taking in Terrill.
But it’s always wise to have a succession plan in place. So I think you ought to take the PetSmart kitty, too. Won’t Terrill be lonely without his bud Jimmy? 
JImmy has Emma, a new barn cat that came in a few months ago. She’s a sweet little tabby that come out with Jimmy to see Teril (spelling per his vet records) off this morning.
Vet appointment is at 11:30, and I expect they will take out the ruptured eye (it looks like it has infected again), but he appears to still have some sight in his other eye - we’ll see if it is salvagable. In addition, he’s lost half an ear in the last couple days - maybe one of the barn animals clipped it. There are some bad-tempered sheep in the barn, as I found out this morning.
Right now he is bunged up in the master bathroom with a bed, catbox, and some water. He purrs loudly when petted and seems very interested in exploring. I have a couple other older cats, one of whom is showing a friendly interest (from the other side of the door). Maybe Milo and he will buddy up.
Beware of Doug, you are correct. Teril has been the resident barncat/schoolchild greeter at the 1900 Farm since mid-1994. Now he is at Retirement Acres (aka my house) for a well-deserved rest.
Feckfree, I’ll be keeping an eye on the Petsmart cat. He looks highly adoptable, so will probably go to a good home, but I can always be suckered if he’s still there in a few weeks.