Sherbert found his forever home on Saturday at AAPAW's (http://www.aapaw.org) Home 4 The Holidays Super Adoption event. This was a bittersweet parting from a very special foster kitty. I am overjoyed that he has gone to a good home, but letting him go was a very emotional thing for me. Saying goodbye to little Sherbert opened a huge hole in my soul. Even though I came home to a house full of cats after he was adopted, the house still felt so empty.
I've posted a slideshow of some of the photos I took of Sherbert while he was with me. I regret that I didn't take any more photos of him for the past couple of months.
Back in late June of this year, I received a call from one of my colleagues at the S.A. Feral Cat Coalition that she had taken a request for help from Nancy, a lady who works at the Crowne Plaze Hotel in downtown San Antonio, on the Riverwalk. The call for help was about a little kitty that was living under a huge dumpster at the hotel's loading dock. I grabbed my trap and headed to the hotel where I was met by the hotel's chef (Nancy was out of town). After searching all over I saw no sign of the kitty. The next week, Nancy was back in town and called me saying that the cat had been sighted again at the dumpster. I loaded up and headed down to the hotel again.
Upon arrival, I looked under the big dumpster and sure enough, little Sherbert was under it. I set my trap next to it and Sherbert went into it a few minutes later. Before covering the trap, I noticed that he wasn't flailing around hysterically like most feral cats would do. I tentatively put my finger into the trap to see what his reaction would be (usually not a wise thing to do) and he wasn't bothered much by it. I covered the trap and headed home with Sherbert in the back of my car.
Upon arrival, I set up a 3'x2'x2' dog crate on a table in my garage and transferred Sherbert into it. He was pretty lethargic and I was able to immediately place my hands on him and pet him. You should have seen the little guy. He was obviously emaciated and was covered in dirt and grease from being under the dumpster. I could pick him up and handle him without a problem. This was no feral cat!
As our rescue intake protocal demands, I took him straight to our vet's office for an initial checkup (exam, fecal sample, combo-test). Since he was so easy to handle, I left him at the vet's office and requested the staff give him a bath to clean him up. When I later picked him up after his bath, I saw that he had white on his paws and underside that was apparent to me before. The little guy was so scrawny and small for his age! The vet who examined him estimated he was about 10 months old. Sherbert was a pitiful little thing to look at. His had a cauliflower right ear and his left eye was clouded over, possibly from blindness.
After a couple of weeks in quarantine in the garage crate, I brought Sherbert inside to meet the other cats. He curiously met them (some who hissed at him) and started fitting into life inside. From that first day, I could set him in my lap and he would stay there. Sometimes I would fall asleep in my recliner and wake up with him in my lap. From the beginning, he would also curl up on my chest in bed at night and sleep. Sherbert seemed to be very thankful he had been rescued from his formerly horrible life, scrapping for anything to eat on the street and under the dumpster at the hotel.
Over the next few months, Sherbert became the center of attention in the house. He ate voraciously and his fur slowly filled in where it had been thin (see the photo of him on the window ledge where his fur sparsely covered his tail in spots). At feeding time, he was always right there at the food bowls, impatient while I filled them. Sherbert had a horrible gastrointestinal problem for months, most likely from the crappy diet he had suffered from on the street. Over time, his GI problems got better. In mid-July, I took Sherbert to the Animal Eye Hospital to have his left eye checked out. Dr. Bonney said he might have some vision out of it but probably not very much. He attributed the clouding to a possible puncture wound at some point in the past but said Sherbert could see fine out of his right eye and the left eye probably wouldn't bother him much.
What a talker Sherbert is! He would often stop in the middle of doing something and proclaim a loud series of Mrreowwws for no apparent reason than to vocalize his philosophy of a cat's life to whomever could hear him. Often, he would just sit on the counter and meow loudly or as he finished his business in the litter box (as if to express his satisfaction that he felt better).
It was a real joy to watch Sherbert play. Most often, he would attack a small ball (his favorite toy) by backing up across the room, wiggling his butt, and then launching himself at the unsuspecting object. He would knock them into one of the bathrooms and bat them around for hours on the lineoleum floors like a soccer ball. He also liked to play tag with a couple of the other cats and got his exercise chasing, or being chased, back and forth through the house.
I never heard Sherbert hiss at one of the other cats until the tortie kittens came along. He would often hiss at one of them and then I would see him grooming them a few minutes later. For such a little guy, his heart is as big as the universe.
I want to thank Susan for taking Sherbert into her home with her two older cats and dog. I know she will be blessed by him as I was during the short time our paths crossed.
