Caught ya!

One week and a day later - caught him! My patience was wearing thin and my mood was getting surly, but I finally got the old tom into the carrying case, snipped, back home and back out to the wilds!

Where did we leave off? Oh yeah, I think it was me tearing out my hair and conceding to Tom's wily ways and finally feeding him. It's been in the three digits weather-wise lately and it was absolutely no fun to be sitting outside trying to convince the tom to get in the cage. It had to be planned well because I had to either catch him in the evening and take him to the vet in the morning, or catch him early in the morning and get him to the vet. My schedule is somewhat flexible but if I had to be in Columbus, NC, 2 hours away from my home, there was no way I could make it to the vet in the morning. Every day and evening was a new challenge, and Mr. Tom lying on his back daring me to rub his belly, laughing at me, didn't help matters much.

I was in constant contact with Mari, the wonderful woman who got me the cage and carrying case, and on Wednesday night she volunteered to come over. I think she was curious to check out this critter that was giving me a run for my money. So on Wednesday night she shows up with a can of smelly Mackerel and we proceed to stalk Mr. Tom. Now he's got two crazy ladies tempting him with yummy food, and trying to get him in a cage and he's just having a ball. On top of that a thunderstorm starts to roll in. I finally concoct the plan to lure Tommy into my back office and maybe somehow get him into the carrying case at some point. The reason I decided on that was that the office is an add on to the house and the back door opens to the deck and I can keep my cats in the main area of the house by closing the connecting door.

Well Tom is pretty smart, as we've established by now, and he knows that the good cat food is kept in the back office. A few times in the past I've turned around and seen his little head poked in the doorway while he snarfs down food from my cat's dish. But Mari knew he wasn't going to come in with her waiting for him so she headed back home. I sat down at the computer and pretended that my life was back to normal, and in truth I had a deadline situation, and when I finally looked up, Tom had ventured inside. I closed the door to the outside and now it was just me, him and a carrying case.

More easily said than done. Around midnight I gave up and went to bed. Tom was hidden behind my desk and I was just praying he would use the kitty litter. I kept the door to the carrying case opened and hoped that maybe in the morning I'd find him curled up asleep inside it. The next morning I came downstairs and put on some soft leather gloves that Mari had left me. Tom must have been really hungry by now because all of a sudden he's rubbing against my hands and letting me pet him! Now this freaked me out because in the past he's sliced me with his nails, but something had changed dramatically in his attitude. I inched closer to the case and he followed me and I pushed him inside, but he wiggled out! At this point I'm thinking, it's been a week and a day dude, I'm really, really tired of this! I start petting him again, get him closer to the case, push him in and get that door shut!!!!! And it's all over. It's finally over.

The last photo I have is Tom in the car, on his way to the vet. He was so good in the car. He barely meowed. Maybe he just knew it was time. When I picked him up later that day from Monroe Road Animal Hospital they said he passed with flying colors. They also snipped his ear to mark him for animal control or other rescuers so they'll know he's been neutered. I had to rush him home and then get ready for my first networking event called Commerce Connections. I left him in the office again but now he was kind of agitated. He really wanted to be outside. They told me to leave him in over night but he was so anxious to be outside that I let him out late that night.

Hallelujah!

To all my readers (Mom, Emily and Donald), please spread the message of love and peace in your every day conduct. I will try and do the same.

Sara Abrams
visit: www.CatsAndDogsofCharlotte.com