What a time I had last night! It all happened so fast, it's hard to believe it really happened! best to start at the beginning. I saw that the weather report is forecasting snow tomorrow and a very cold weekend (highs in the 20's are typical for winter here, but it's been unusually warm this year), so I was very worried about the poor orange cat. Deciding I couldn't wait any longer for someone to claim him, I called the no-kill cat rescue where I volunteer and asked them to take him in. They readily agreed, and so I crammed him into a cat carrier (he struggled, but purred the entire time and never tried to scratch me!) and drove him there. They immediately got to work on him; giving him all of his shots and inoculations, cutting his mats off and brushing the burrs off his fur, giving him flea treatment, trimming his claws, and cleaning the motor oil off of his coat with dry wipes.
What a trooper! Although he wasn't crazy about some of it, he never even protested. He even purred and fell asleep for a minute on the exam table when it was all over.
While this was all happening, a woman came in to "look" at the cats. She was a total cat lover and just wanted to be around cats, since her own had died over a year ago. She was amazed (as were all of us) at how well-behaved he was, and decided to hold him while they groomed him. Well that was it. In less than an hour the poor, dirty stray became a clean, healthier, handsome housecat with a new home and a new name!
The workers at the shelter had his adoption papers filled out, microchipped him, and set her up with all the necessary cat gear so they could go home together right away. He's technically being fostered until he's neutered in two weeks, but I'm confident that he has a terrific forever home!
My cats and I are delighted that he's safe, happy, and away from my front door!
