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Gary was an avowed cat-hater. A "dog-man" to the core. The bigger the better. A small dog was almost as bad as a cat. If you "owned" a cat, snort, well…..
Our work brought us to this beautiful farm country in northwest New Jersey. Due to the barn cat population, there are many ferals here. They were simply shadows, darting around after dark. But when the garbage didn't spend much time in the cans, it became hard to ignore the problem. Of course that just helped to raise the cat-hating bar. His original intended solution was rocks… but animal-lover that I am, that wasn’t the solution I thought we should use.
 Upon returning one evening (to find the garbage strewn around yet again), the skinniest straggliest dirtiest stray approached us, meowing. Gary meowed back. They started a "conversation." In a resigned voice, hubby asked me to run inside to get some cheese. My heart went pitty-pat. While watching the cat devour the cheese, I suggested that if we started to feed the stray, then maybe it would live nearby, and help control the mouse population that probably lurks around here. Gary had NO interest in saving the cat, but he warmed to the idea of preventing mice. Cheese tossing became a regular part of our daily routine. He started calling the cat Booger.
Well, the cat really didn't look like it was in good shape. So we tossed cheese closer and closer, until we were able to reach out and touch it. The poor thing was so scraggly, even Gary finally felt we needed to clean it up. He started grooming Boog, which it turned out is female. Though skinny, a beautiful cat emerged from under all that matted dirty hair!
I bought cat food and Gary didn't complain. I suggested we make sure we didn't wind up with more cats. We purchased a crate – not a trap – and put her food in there. She went for it (although that was the last time it was that easy!). We took her to the Vet. Gary was quite proud that his grooming had resulted in a parasite-free cat. Booger got all her shots, was de-wormed, and they shaved her belly to see if she was spayed. There was a scar there – but it was very ragged, leading the Vet to believe that it wasn’t from surgery. Well – it turned out it was. As a matter of fact, according to the Vet, someone had paid for a very expensive spay job, removing all of her reproductive organs, ensuring she wouldn’t turn into a fat, lazy cat. So our beautiful Booger wasn’t a feral after all, she was a stray that had been very much loved by someone – in addition to which, the Vet also informed us that she is a purebred Maine Coon cat. We were a little worried then… but found out from one of the neighbors that they’d seen “that cat” raiding their cans for over a year, so Booger had been on her own for some time. (The Vet estimated that she was about 1˝ years old).
At the Vet's after the surgery, poor Booger was miserable. Not having warmed up to the idea of an inside cat yet, it was our intent to re-release her, but to continue to feed and care for her. I was so worried - I was sure this was the last we would see of her. But when we got home, instead of wanting to run away, she wanted cuddles! Gary let me sacrifice a pillow for her to sleep on. Inside! She spent some time on his lap, too, purring up a storm.
Well it was all over after that. Needless to say, Boog wormed her way into Gary's heart. I constantly caught him grooming her, picking her up, petting her, and - SMILING. She turned up in our lives in the winter, thankfully not a nasty one. But on those cold and howling windy or snowy days, Boog would come meowing at the door, and we’d always let her in. (She usually showed up in the late afternoon, and she was always meowing to leave between 2:00 and 4:00 am.)
She became a regular visitor, and she moved her hours up some come spring. We could easily hear the sound of her “pa-dunk” as she jumped up on our front steps. If it was raining, we’d open the door to let her in. If it was sunny, we’d head outside to feed her and spend time with her out there. She sun-bathed in our yard, and knew the warm home was available to her if she wanted it. I would have loved to have Boog as an inside pet… but she was too independent for that.
We didn't rescue Booger. She rescued Gary from a cat-hating fate. In fact, I credit Booger with rescuing the entire feral population here. That spring, the first batch of kittens turned up… but that’s a different story. Suffice it to say that four of those kittens are now cats, and they live inside with us full-time and have us well trained! For the rest, we now run a TNR (trap-neuter-release) program. We provide shelter, food, water and healthcare to them all.
P.S. After bringing the first kitten inside, Gary called all of his friends owned by cats, and apologized to them all. Gary is proudly owned by Sheldon (Shelly) and Tuxedo. …And as for Booger? Well, as winter approached yet again, when it snowed before Halloween, we knew it was going to be a bad one. We made the hard decision to find Booger a furrever home. We contacted a breed rescue group, and they worked with us to find her the perfect home. After rejecting several potential parents, we found what we believed to be the right mom for her – out in Oregon. Her new mom made arrangements for Booger to fly out there with a friend transporting her in January. In order to fly, Booger needed a health certificate dated within 10 days of the flight. The night before she was due to go, she showed up just a few minutes after the Vet’s office was to close. We put her in her crate, called the Vet, and they agreed to wait for us. Gary drove her out there – where we’d decided to leave her for the night as well, because who knew if she’d show up in time for us to leave for the airport the next morning? The next day was the worst ice-storm on the East Coast that winter. Gary braved the terrible storm to drive five hours to get Booger to her destination. Boog’s new mom wrote to let us know that she is a wonderful pet who loves sleeping in bed with mom, loves sunning herself on her cat furniture while watching birds, and to this day she continues to be a drooling, kneading snuggle bunny.
I miss hearing her “pa-dunk” as she jumped onto our steps every day. But she’s in a loving home, is spoiled rotten, and will always be our beautiful Booger girl who opened our hearts to the “forgotten ones,” those shadow cats, the ferals and the strays.
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