I Did it Again

Meet Moose.

This is not my cat. Yet. He's been hanging about the house since I moved in; I see him every couple of weeks in the evening and I've begun to suspect that he lives under my back porch. That's mainly because I've seen him come out from under there and when I do see him, it's generally at my back door. He was incredibly affectionate and I've tried to get a few friends who have talked about having pets into taking him, but I hadn't had much luck. The last time I'd seen him was two weeks ago, and while I gave him a bit of food to keep him still, I stuck some Advantage flea stuff on him, just to take care of that in case I did find him a home.

This morning, he was waiting for me at the back door, curled up in the base of a chair on the deck. It's the first time I'd ever seen him in the daytime, which struck me as odd, as did his behavior: instead of snuggling up to me for a good scratch, he nudged me a little and then laid himself out on the deck. I started looking him over, and found this:

That's after I cleaned it - it was obviously very infected and tender, but he purred the entire time I cleaned the ear, only pulling away a bit when it hurt. I've since brought him to the local vet and they clipped the fur around the wound and flushed it. I've got pain killer and antibiotics for him, as well as a de-wormer to give him. The vet tech fell in love with him and when I said I hadn't named him, she christened him Moose.

It turns out that he does have a microchip, but the address is on Coronado, which is an island across San Diego Harbor and is nearly impossible to get to aside from a ferry or the bridge, so someone had to have brought him over here. The phone numbers were disconnected (PSA: if you love your animal enough to have him/her microchipped, update your phone number and address). He's about 9 years old and they called him Ranger, but I like Moose and Margot (the vet tech) is thrilled that I kept her name. 

I'm going to try to find him a home because Stormy is even less happy to share her space with another cat than she was to live with my mom's two dogs. I've got a good two weeks of treatment for Moose, so if I'm lucky, she'll settle down with him and if I can't find him a home, I can keep him with me. He really is the most amazing, mellow little dude.

Comments

[Helle K. Berry]

we do not adopt pets, they adopt us! Otherwise, we would not have a Weimeriener! (sp?)

[Kate/Massachusetts]

You know it is fated...you have a merry Chrismoose!

[Cindy]

Welcome Moose. You're in good hands.

[BJ]

Is he really brown? He looks brown. And is it just me, or are his front legs kinda crooked?

Also, I want to kees his leetle haid. :--)