I called him Fester

He arrived here about six months ago, this mackerel tabby tomcat. At first, he hung back by the woodpile watching the house warily while eyeing the feral feeder with great anticipation. When I walked out on the back porch, he would beat feet out to the back pasture and vanish into the woods.

So, I set up a feeding station by the creek and over the weeks, he got bolder and came closer to the house until I could pour the food out in the morning and hear him by the Jacuzzi waiting for his turn.

Traps were laid out and he avoided each one, including the drop trap. His age, I would estimate about 5-6 but it was difficult to tell from a distance. His balls the size of tennis balls worried me because of the aggression factor. But except for one quick tango with Baker, Fester just stayed on the outside of the group.

This morning when I backed my car out of our long drive- I saw him on the road and I wept. He deserved more than to be a road causality- he deserved to grow old in peace.

6 thoughts on “I called him Fester

  1. I shudder when I see one of my feral friends even near the street. We lost one a few months ago. You allowed him his freedom and his peace and gave him a world where he knew where his next meal was coming from and where he had you as a friend. It sounds like so little to you but in truth, to him, was tremendous. Regards, Marian in Houston

  2. I am sorry for your loss, at least you kept him fed, and happy. That is what is most important.

  3. hi i am so sorry to hear do you think the black kitten that i wrote once abvout and was laying in a strange positon dead was also killed by the fathercat i could have brought it home hte night before but we thought she was still drinking milk with the mother but i think hte father cat killed it. i used to stand behind the door and had food all over hte place on hte floor and so when the cat was far enough in i closed the door but the cats i am dealing wiht are used to humans htey get food but do not get touched. but maybe try to stand behind the door the only thing they will enter the trap wiht now is whiskas oh so gravy those pouches or the simple blend of whiskas in pouches or chicken. we do not have highways where we live or wild animals just garden wiht houses and stupid people. hte men in hte church does not want us to trap the cat he prefers now to drown the kittens in buckets htat men is mental but i told the gardener from the priest what he is up too os hopefully it helps

  4. I think it is a possibility- but it is hard to say. Sometimes, despite all we try to do kittens will just fade. It’s sad, but in rescue it happens.We just try to understand or accept it and move along because there is always another one waiting who needs us.

  5. hi

    there is kittens around 6 months in my husbands area across the road all those cats and kittens fed were all born from a few cats last year nad people just feed a lady has two cats herself and feeds some of hte kittnes wild wiht the sneezing and bad eyes but i ahve a cat macy who is leukemia and if i bring one of htose kittens home by trap the catflue may kill macy as i think hte catflue sticks to clothes and shoes and i do not want to loose macy???i am minding a friends kitten 7-8 months old and she gets neutured next week and vaccinated so if i bring one of htose big kittens in i only have 3 rooms hte catflue may spread if i bring one of htem in. htey are sneezing and probably the catflue and i do not want to risk loosing macy. so when the ktiten from the friend is vaccinazted i can put her up or bring some downstairs but how do i protect macy getting the catflue as she has no immune system can you vacinate cats with leukemia against the catflue?????

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