Wenesday Cat Blogging?

Time for another long-delayed update.

And this one's about Tigger.

Here's Tigger's story.

We live on a farm, on a road of farms. A few doors down, one of our neighbours has a large number of cats who roam free. Thus, the area has a lot of cats. And some bastard decided this was an ideal way of getting rid of a cat who was, no doubt, bought as a kitten as a Christmas gift for some child. He was obviously domesticated. He was completly calm around people and knew what doors are for. He kept trying to come inside the house and even managed it a few times, much to the consternation of Loki.

In this photo he had been around for a few months and we were heading towards winter. In fact, this was the day of the first, light snowfall. He is complaining about the white stuff falling from the sky.

Tigger caught worms from one of the other cats, so we managed to get him to the vets where a quick injection resulted in a dead worm on our doorstep the next morning.

As the weather got colder, it became apparent that he wasn't having a good time of it. So I built him a shelter.

You probably saw the how-to on this doing the rounds on social media. A tote, a styrofoam cooler, some straw, and a sharp knife and you get a little place to get out of the worst of the weather.

But winter got worse. Kentucky broke the snowfall record, and then broke it again in the same month. Temperatures fell as we suffered through the worst winter in decades.

The neighbour's cats had a barn to shelter in. Tigger had only the shelter I had made for him.

And he was not doing well.

Tigger was clearly sick. He had horrible diarrhea and was losing weight. His inner eyelids were visible--really not a good sign in a cat--to the point where he was obviously having trouble seeing. So we took the decision to bring him inside. We put aside a room for him, gave him a constant supply of food and water, and a litter box. He immediately knew what it was for. Like I said, he had spent time indoors before someone kicked him out.

We took him to the vet. The biggest concern was dealing with his diarrhea. The vet tried everything. Antibiotics did nothing. A steroid injection briefly dealt with it, but an extended course failed to clear it up. We tried probiotics, thinking that the antibiotics could have interfered with the bacteria in his gut. Nothing. Then I noticed another worm in his stool. The vet was astounded. The shot he had given Tigger previously should have protected him from worms for up to six months.

The vet administered another shot, along with two pills to give him before we went to bed.

The next morning his litter box looked like a plate of spaghetti. Huge segmented worms. Tiny whip-like worms. All dead. Two days later, Tigger's diarrhea was history. Within a week he was back to what we call "rude health" in my country.

In fact, he had bounced back so well that we were able to book him in to be neutered. After a week's recovery he was cautiously let out into the house proper, where he met Loki.

Things went well for a few hours, but we had to remind ourselves that Tigger is still barely an adult cat, wheras Loki is an old man. Tigger wants to play, Loki wants to lay in the sun and relax.

So Tigger keeps jumping on Loki and Loki reponds with a swift slap. No claws--yet--but sometimes it gets rambunctious and Tigger gets put in his room for a time-out.

We've progressed to the point of uneasy truce.

Tigger rarely gets a time-out, Loki is holding his own, and we have, apparently, now given forever homes to two strays.

Loki is still not sure about his new brother, but he's getting used to having an energetic ball of fur trying to play with him at all hours.

He's learning that he has to share the bed and the sunny spot by the back door, though his cat bed he defends with vigour. He has to share the back of the sofa, but he still sleeps pressed up against my side at night.

He's even found a few places around the house where he can take shelter from the mad ginger one.

He's not happy about it, though.

I have yet to capture them both in the same photograph.