A Happy Ending for OJ

We have many stray and feral cats on our cul-de-sac street, there is literally probably 20 or so, 3 sets of new litters down at the end of the street. A couple of years ago we got close to one tom cat that we named Ozzy. He acted as if he had belonged to a family and was very loving. The thing with tom cats is that they roam, and like to fight. One day, he came to us with his eyeball totally red with blood. His eye looked like it had literally been tore open and lost all of its fluids. We loved him so much that we took him to our vet and were willing to have surgery for him to remove his eye and save him. Our vet said that since he was a “stray” that he wanted to check him for disease first before going in to the cost of surgery. No problem. Shockingly our vet called with the news that he had feline AIDS. He told us it would be in his best interest to put him down because the disease is unforgiving, incurable, and they die a very slow, painful death. We were traumatized, but did what was best.

My mom swore she would never get close to another stray again.

About a year later, another cat showed up… looked a lot like Ozzy #1, and seemed to have near the same temperament. Well needless to say, we got close to him also (we called him Ozzy also). Shortly after, an orange one showed up. He had been around before, but started hanging around our house a lot. He noticed that he was even MORE laid back and friendly than Ozzy. We called him OJ (after orange juice-not OJ Simpson!) At first there was territorial issues with OJ and Ozzy and they would fight, but over time they began to get along and learn to cohabitate on our property. It got to where mom would let them hang out in her craft room and OJ would just snuggle with mom for hours.

The other day my little brother saw animal control looking over our fence into our backyard. He asked what they were doing and the officer said he was looking for an orange cat. Eric immediately (not knowing any better) said “that is my cat!” Well a little girl, a cousin to a family down the street got bit by him. We were in disbelief. I mean this cat wouldn’t harm anyone! The officer said her arm was “bitten up good”, that “he attacked her and all she was doing was petting her.”

I was unaware of any of this conversing with my very naive minded little brother. Next thing I know, my little brother comes in telling me that animal control is going to take OJ. I go outside and the officer was going over paperwork with my little brother, while he may be 18 years old, is not mentally capable of understanding things like this. So I jumped in and said wait a minute… we do not own that cat. The officer said in the state of Texas, if you feed a cat for 10 or more days, you assume responsibility for it!

Me: “Many of our neighbors feed the cats…” “so if we set out a food bowl and all 20 of the neighborhood cats eat out if, do we own all 20 cats?”

Officer: … no answer…

He said we had to either take him to our own vet and quarantine him for 10 days for rabies, on our bill… or surrender him to animal control… he asked my little brother what he wanted to do… and was going to have him sign paperwork! I told him that my little brother did not have the authority to do so, and that we needed to discuss it with my parents when they got home.

So he left.

Mom and Dad were upset to say the least.

The next day the officer called and got my mom on the phone. It was not really pretty… she was mad and arguing with him. He proceeded to tell her that if we didn’t turn him over that we could be charged all kinds of fees. So we had to turn him over, even though we knew this was not in his nature, that he was not sick with anything like rabies, and it may not have even been him. There are two other orange cats on the street. But he was targeted as the culprit.

Skip ahead… a few days later after turning him over… the little girls brother tells my brother that she pulled his tail and wouldn’t let him go… BINGO!

OJ went to Williamson County Regional Shelter. They are stuffed to the max with cats right now and come to find out, adoptions are only $30! That includes vaccinations, microchipping, and spay/neuter! So we decided that when his “time” was up… we would adopt him back and let him come back home. I was just scared to death he may have feline AIDS also. I mean I wouldn’t be surprised if OJ and Ozzy #2 could be offspring of Ozzy #1. So we had to sit patiently waiting and worried.

Today was his last day. We went up there and saw him and they tested him for feline leukemia and feline AIDS. NEGATIVE!!!! So we adopted him (ended up being only $25!) and then he is getting neutered tomorrow and we pick him up at 4 p.m.!

I bet those neighbors will be shocked to see him back. But this is his HOME! They better not try to do anything to him! We are getting him a collar and all of that good stuff. He will be so happy, and I am so thrilled he is getting all his shots and neutered. Should keep him from roaming and fighting as much, and we don’t have to worry about him getting feline leukemia or AIDS now!

FREE OJ!!! WELCOME HOME!! I will add pics to this post tomorrow when he gets home.