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| Name: |
Pepper
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Age: |
Four years old
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| Gender: |
Male
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Kind: |
White Persian
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| Home: |
Sherburne County, Minnesota, USA
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This
second photo of Pepper is prior to his capture by me. Pepper stopped by
my house January 2008 in the dead of the winter. I spotted him looking up to
the window at Spice. One day, when I stepped out on my patio to check him out
but he ran across the street and sat down in the neighbors drive-way and
looked at me. On that day, it was 15 degrees below zero. I had no idea where
he was living to stay warm.
But, here and again, I had a cat choose me. I fed him all winter long. In
the spring, I discovered he was living under a storage unit next door to my
house. At first he wouldn't come close to me, but I kept the food acomin'.
In the spring, about April, I added canned food to his diet, but sat on the
patio so he had to come close to me. Soon, he was sitting in front of my
garage door waiting for my return from work. I would go in and get some
canned food and return outside. He would come running to me. I began to
approach him to scratch his head. You couldn't pet him, as you can see he was
full of hairballs, some with stickers inside of them. I hauled out a cat
carrier and put it where I set his food. Then I kept moving the cat food to
the back of the carrier. One day, I made a vet appointment, and sat outside
to wait for him. When I opened the garage door and closed it, he came
running. I put the cat food in the back of the carrier, he started going in
it to get the food. He stopped to notice how far back it was but I pushed him
inside.
I took him to the vet, and she checked him out. It was interesting how well
he acted at the vet's. He knew me just enough to feed him and scratch his
head. She told me I had to keep him away from my other cats (Sugar and Spice,
females) until he was checked for feline leukemia, even though my cats were
vaccinated. He also has problems with his eyes. They don't focus too well.
The vet thinks he was born in 2005.
Pepper went back a week later to the vets to have his hair shaved, and to be
neutered. I bought a large cage for him to be housed in my garage. The vet
said I had to wait twelve weeks (August 15, 2009) to come back and have the final
feline leukemia check. It was an interesting summer to keep him cool. Thank
goodness he had very little hair. I have spent alot of time with him, but he
was still cautious around others. He seemed to trust me somewhat. I could
pick him up and pet him for awhile, but he liked being near his food. He
started playing with a string about two months after I caught him, and he
licked my hand several times.
Here it is 2010, and Pepper has become part of the family. He is a lot more
accepting of others now. He is by my side a lot, or sitting in my lap. My
cranky cat, Sugar, accepts him, but will swat at him if he bugs her too much.
My cat, Spice, and Pepper are quite good friends. They chase each other
around the house, and sleep next to each other. Sometimes, I've seen all
three of them chasing each other. I am so fortunate to have Pepper, and glad
to have him part of my life.
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