Now that we have told the tale of the original trio, it has come time to move on to the next member of the clowder. By this time, we were fully in the grasp of the pandemic, but for our family work life continued almost as normal. It’s the unfortunate fact of living in a retail life. Plus we now had to juggle Erin doing remote learning for the remainder of her Freshman year of High School coupled with Abby’s day care being closed. If we could find positives during this time, it was the fact that we didn’t have to deal with a lot of traffic on the roads any more – it was almost like one of those post-apocalyptic movies, but the joy of having to deal with less idiots on the road was real. The other side benefit appeared to be an offshoot of that in that with less people out and about other wildlife began to roam around more often. For about a year after the pandemic started a few whitetail deer began roaming the street, and even nibbling on our bushes in the front yard. Even today, they still pop in now and again down by the field and the woods at the end of the street. We’ve had foxes and maybe even a coyote or two come around, which of course certainly made us nervous for the ferals’ safety. There was one time that I was investigating some noises outside by the field, and Tiger snuck out on Shannon when she opened the door to check on me. I was sweating bullets trying to coax him back into the house, but fortunately, he exercised the better part of valor and came back in for the evening.
I debated on whose tale I should tell this time around as it starts to get fuzzy on who made their presence known in exact chronological order, but I felt it might be more appropriate to go with who decided to become the next in line to join the indoor family following Tiger, and that would be Tux. Now in terms of who started wandering the street more and more around the spring and summer of 2020, it could be a toss up between Tux and Midnight. It seems they started coming around about the same time, a month or two after we fully identified the Three Amigos. The one difference was that Midnight was much more friendly (which we found out from the vet seems to be a tendency with black cats), while Tux was certainly more cautious and wouldn’t approach too closely, much like Scruff. We tended to notice Midnight more not only because of this, but he also seemed to hang out at the commercial business behind the house, along with Scruff and Patch. The three of them became such regulars back there that the employees created a make-shift shelter out of an Igloo cooler and also began to leave out food and water for the strays. But I think we can save more of that story for next time.
Yeah, let’s get back to Tux, shall we? Now one of the first things we noticed about Tux, and Midnight, were that they were not ear clipped, so we assume they were not caught by the local TNR program. So we thought they may have been more feral, even with Midnight’s friendliness, than the Trio. As for naming, well, it simply looked like Tux was wearing a tuxedo – he was mostly black, except for his paws, and a nice white patch that ran up from his belly to the bottom of his chin, which went slightly higher on the right side of his mouth. So, probably not the most original of names (I sometimes wish we named him Oreo instead – but we save that for Tux’s perhaps-brother), but it certainly fit. We didn’t even realize at the time that tuxedo was actually the official name for that pattern of coloring for cats. That I learned by another google search later on. But for the most part, we tended to see Tux and Midnight at the same time. It didn’t seem they quite hung out together like the Trio did, but they at least seemed to tolerate one another and would sometimes be hanging around the house at the same time, which of course usually was feeding time. While Midnight would come for a quick pet, Tux would always keep his distance and run off if any of us got too close. They weren’t showing up as often as the Trio were; by the late Spring into Summer, we were seeing the orange boys practically every day while we would see Midnight off and on – sometimes on the street and other times over in the business parking lot. Tux however seemed to be a once or twice a week at this time. He would come grab some kibble, maybe plop in the street for a few minutes then wander off again and we wouldn’t see him for a couple of days. But like the others, once he knew this was the prime spot to go for a regular meal, we could count on him making a regular appearance.
So over the summer, any time he came out to grab his breakfast, lunch, or dinner (since we were leaving the food out all day), I would take the opportunity when I could to go out and observe from a safe distance and talk to him. I did that for all the boys so they would get used to the sound of my voice and associate me with the good stuff they were there to get. All it takes is a lot of time and some patience. With Tiger, Patch, and Midnight, it was a lot easier as they seemed to trust me quicker than Scruff or Tux, but at least I was able to start developing that bond with them. Towards the end of the summer, Tux was comfortable enough that he would lounge about in the driveway or chill in the back yard. As the summer gave way to the fall, and I got the homemade shelters up and in place, it seemed Tux and the rest started hanging out around the house a lot more. I suspected that Tux and Midnight set up their overnight accommodations in the field behind the business parking lot where there were several trailers and other equipment about that could offer shelter from the storms and the predators. But once they discovered the cozy little hideaways I made, they started to make use of those. Tiger would take one I set up in the corner behind the shed. Another I kept in the front, at one point next to the porch which Patch had used a couple of times. I eventually made a total of four and shifted a couple of the shelters around trying to find the best spot for them to accommodate everybody. One I had on the other side of the shed from Tiger’s shelter, near the ditch they would use to get in and out of the back yard. Midnight seemed to favor that one. It wasn’t until one night, however, when I was bringing food out to put by the swing set that I finally discovered Tux had set up in the one by that corner. Naturally, he got spooked when I got close (not realizing he was in there), and took off running. But at least I knew he had found a nice cozy spot he could use near the spot where food was plentiful.
The only problem was that if cats get spooked while in the shelters, they’ll tend to avoid them. So I tried to be cautious when approaching any of them to avoid that scenario. Naturally, I still ended up spooking Tux a second time in that shelter no too long afterwards. That was the last time I was able to witness him using one of them. I eventually got the idea to rearrange the hay during the day, and then would check back on each shelter a few days to a week later to see if I could discover the telltale signs of someone sleeping in them. Sure enough, there would be a depression in the hay that indicated they were still being used. At least that put my mind at ease for the remainder of the winter, which was a good thing too. Since that first winter of 2020-2021 saw us get a good bit of snow. It at least made it easier to track the clowder’s comings and goings as I could see the imprints of little cat paws in the snow around the yard, and leading up to and away from the shelters.
We pretty much continued on this way throughout 2021 as at that point I was already working on getting Tiger to be more comfortable in the house, so the rest of the boys were still regulated to staying outdoors and just hanging around during the days, eating and catching mice at their leisure, many of which were left by our front door and walkway as signs of their affection. We would also occasionally see the remains of a bird every now and again, so had to take extra precaution with the Robins that would make nests in the trees around the driveway and back yard. There was more than one occasion we had to rescue a young fledgling that had fallen out of the nest. So when the summer of 2022 rolled around, and Tiger was celebrating his first year of being an indoor lap cat, I started to try to work on the next likely candidate. I thought maybe Patch and Scruff since they were more regular than any of the others, but it turns out that it was Midnight and Tux who became the unlikely volunteers. At this point they seemed to hang around each other a bit more – not quite like Patch and Scruff, but enough that they would end up getting fed together. At this point I realized the drug that captures any outdoor cat is the almighty canned wet food. It was just the enticement that got Tiger inside, and it worked wonders on Tux and Midnight as well. Even so, I just never expected Tux to be as accommodating as he turned out to be.
It started one day in the driveway. Tux must have been especially hungry that day as he got fairly close to me as I brought the bowl of food out. I squatted down with the bowl to try to coax him closer, and to my surprise, he came close enough for me to reach out and give him a quick rub along the back. He scooted away immediately, but couldn’t resist the lure of that bowl of kibble. So I set it down where I was and he came over to eat. I didn’t want to push my luck any further, so just backed away and let him chow down. Of course, a day or two later, when I brought out a plate of the good stuff, I had him hooked. One whiff of that, and he no longer feared being so close to my presence. I would lead him to the back door, and give him a quick pet before setting the plate down on the grass next to our pebble walkway. Midnight soon caught on and would regularly join Tux in having a luxury outdoor dinner.
Once they were comfortable enough with that, I was able to do the same with I did with Tiger, bringing them closer towards the house and the back door which lead to the kitchen until such a time that I was able to entice them enough to take a few steps inside and eat from the plates on our kitchen floor – with the door still open right behind as a means of reassuring them that their escape route was open and available at any time. Over the course of the next couple of weeks I was able to lead them further and further into the kitchen until they were eating from the usual feeding spot, and I was able to keep the kitchen door closed. Tux especially was still quite a bit nervous, running for the door at any loud sound, but he eventually was able to understand that he was in a safe place, and would come in on his own for both breakfast (on my days off), and every evening for dinner. Like Tiger, he still wasn’t quite ready to stay indoors for a full night, but he no longer ate and ran either, he would actually stay a bit longer. It also helped that we had the sunroom completed that Spring, so they had a place that was like outdoors, without having to actually be outdoors to hang out.
It was at that point, that we noticed that both he and Midnight (who also hung inside a bit more often) would have coughing spasms on a regular basis. I worried that it might be something to do with heartworms, so I figured we needed to get Tux a vet appointment, just to make sure he was healthy, and to ensure that he could not increase the feral cat population while he was outside. So in late July of last year, I made an appointment for him and off he went to the Vet. Fortunately, it turned out that both Tux and Midnight didn’t mind being picked up and held, so it was easier to get him into the carrier and take him to the vet, instead of requiring a house call like Tiger did. Sure, he still wasn’t entirely happy about the experience, but it made my life a lot easier (and a bit cheaper). As it turned out, we lucked out again, as like Tiger, Tux was in pretty good health and there were apparently no worries about him procreating. He had either been neutered in the past, or had a condition that prevented him from being able to sire offspring. The coughing turns out to be cat asthma, which could require some potentially expensive treatment. Since it wasn’t immediately life threatening, we decided to wait on that and see if it became worse. In the meantime, he got his shots and home he came. The vet recommended we keep an eye on him for 24 hours to make sure there were no adverse reactions to the shots. So we decided to keep him inside for the next day, which he didn’t seem to mind too much. The day after, while I was at work, Shannon texted me in the afternoon to see if she could let Tux out, since he was sitting in front of the door, just staring at the outdoors. I told her it should be fine, so she slid opened the door and … Tux just sat there, looking at her. It seemed like he was quite comfortable where he was and really didn’t feel like going on a journey at that moment. So I came home, and Tux has been an indoor cat ever since.
Tux’s conversion has been the most surprising since he seemed to be the most standoffish and feral like of all the regulars. I never would have figured he would be one that we could get to be an indoor lap cat. But that’s exactly what he has turned out to be. Not too long after he made the decision to stay inside, I was sitting in the chair in the living room. I think I was watching TV or trolling people on a gaming forum through my phone, but Tux came over to the chair, gave me a quick glance, then hopped up and plopped himself into my lap. I was completely taken by surprise, since he hadn’t shown signs of that much affection up to that point in the slightest. But after a couple of rubs along his back, he buried his face in my stomach and purred himself contentedly asleep. So now, a year later, both he and Tiger have to contest with each other for lap time, and they both have their favorite spots to curl up on the bed at night. Never would have believed it in the proverbial million years, but he has been such a loving rascal that we can’t help but think our lives are a bit better because of him. Of course that is despite that rascal personality he has shown to have – like the time he snuck out on Erin when she opened the door to let Midnight in for dinner and he was gone most of the evening while Shannon and I were at Abby’s school for a parent/teacher conference. Or this annoying habit he started of standing up and clawing at the bedroom mirror in the middle of the night – every night – until we removed it from the dresser, only to promptly have him do it to the wall anyway … and the living room TV. But that’s our Tuxy boy and he certainly has made our lives interesting.
