My favorite thing in Feline Misadventures

Everything my cats do that make my heart swell like the Grinch’s is my favorite thing. My current favorite thing is OC on my lap, climbing my shoulder to headbutt my face. OC (named by my grandmother, it stands for Outside Chester) is a feral cat that bears a resemblance to my cat, Chester. When she first moved to this place, he was the first cat to come around to eat the scraps she’d throw out for the opossums. When I moved in he was friendly, but I couldn’t touch him. He’d follow me around the yard and squeak at me, and wait at the door for breakfast and dinner. He’s one of the original daddies of the colony, the majority of the cats here are his progeny. In January of 2019, I trapped him along with the majority of the colony at the time to get neutered and vaccinated. It did not improve our relationship. He, as toms do, takes time every season to go and check on all the queens in the neighborhood, and will be gone for weeks or months at a time. Even neutered, he’s still hanging on to the call to wander. In the fall of 2019, after being gone for almost three months, he returned with two other cats- one, a housecat someone had dumped (complete with collar) who, despite months of searching, was never reunited with his original owners. So I had him neutered and vaccinated and he is now called Oliver and lives with a coworker of mine. The second cat he brought home is my chonky little Wu Tang (marking on her back looks like the W in their logo). She didn’t stay put until the spring, I suspect she had a litter from wherever he brought her from that she was still caring for.

But Oliver was a blessing- he was so affectionate and needy that he wanted me petting him at all times, which made OC very jealous. I was HIS food person, and frankly, how very dare. So one morning while trying to put their food out and pet Oliver at the same time, OC finally had enough and pushed between the two of us and I wound up petting him. We were both shocked. He decided it wasn’t so bad and let me pet him more frequently. Then, he started getting interested in coming inside. I’d hold the door open and he’d hesitate in the doorway. Every time he got a little braver. Now, almost a year later, he comes in and out daily, sleeps on the bed, and harasses Chester to try to warm his affection.