Lucas is HOME!

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Lucas is the cat we adopted almost two months ago. He was adopted by the college aged daughter of a friend who is studying via computer and got to extend her summer job through at least this fall - but she could not have a pet where she is living. Lucas (aka Rascal aka KittiBoi) was relegated to the screen porch at her parents' house. Their dogs - golden retrievers - are fine with cats, but her brother's blue heeler (another rescue) wants to eat them.

So they had been trying to find a forever home for Lucas - and we were it. He was happy here but a week after we got him, my husband came home late. He was not accustomed to indoor only cats and watching the door and Lucas snuck by him unseen. We didn't even realize that Lucas was gone until the next morning and ran around calling and trying to entice him with food, but no sign of him.

The next two weeks we had a lot of construction, mowing the pastures and the yard, all sorts of chaos. If Lucas had wanted to come back, all of that would have scared him away.

A few weeks ago the previous owner thought they saw him on the other side of our farm, but just a glimpse. With a brown tabby at dusk, it was hard to be sure.

Monday night he showed up at her house. Now her place isn't far, maybe a mile in a straight line, but that straight line is through the woods, across a stream and through some rough areas. Plus there foxes and coyotes that live around here, a black bear has been seen in those woods, and at least one neighbor has dogs that would tear a cat apart.

So we are very happy that Lucas is safe!

He's a little thinner - but he was a little chubby before - and was limping on one paw. I took him to the vet today and the diagnosis is that he sprained his leg, probably got a foot caught when he was jumping down and twisted it. He's getting a couple of days of anti-inflammatory and a lot of rest.

Now we have to introduce him to the girls. We'd adopted Maya two days after adopting Lucas so they sort of knew each other, but he has not met Sabra yet. We're keeping him confined and separate for a few days until we're sure his leg is healed. He's in the upstairs bathroom, but my husband took him into his office and Lucas jumped into his lap for attention, so he wants to be an indoor people cat again.

While Lucas is the largest of the cats, he is the least assertive, so other than Maya and Sabra hissing at him, the biggest problem will be where to put three cat boxes - oh, and finding another cat tree for Lucas. Sabra has claimed his.

I'll post a picture of Lucas as soon as possible

[catbyte]

1. Hooray!

[Thekaspervote]

2. Oh good...a happy ending..so many times not.

One of our cats, a stray we took in got out a while back, he snuck out and was gone for 3 weeks. It was a terrible ordeal, but after much effort we were able to recapture him

[CurtEastPoint]

3. Bless you for caring for him.

[Karadeniz]

4. Smart cat! They'll work things out!

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5. I think it's amazing that he found his way to his temporary home

It wasn't quite the Amazing Journey (look up the movie) but it was pretty remarkable.

I've been told to make sure he is carefully confined for two weeks - after that he would have less chance of returning to his old home and more of trying to return here.

The two girls, Maya and Sabra, have learned that when noises start outside to run into the bedroom. We then close the doors and turn the radio to NPR. They have become very relaxed with this routine since the talking on the radio helps to drown out the talking outside. Of course, it does not help with the drilling, sawing and pounding, but that does not seem to stress them so much anymore.

Since we're on the final phase of the construction - just a couple more doors to hang, a little bit of gutter work, and some touch up paint - I don't know what they will do when it is the normal quiet all the time!

[BigmanPigman]

6. Do they chip cats like they do for dogs?

Does the cat have a cjip already?

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7. Yes, and all three of the cats I have adopted this year are chipped

And registered with the major chip companies.

Problem is, there are no roads between where he went and my house. It's all woods, swamp and a couple of streams that run out of the swamp. Between my sixty acres and the fifty acres my neighbor to the north, there are a lot of very unraked woods where Lucas had to travel. There is a short cul de sac to where his previous owner lives and that is it.

Plus the local Animal Control is not picking up or accepting animals and has not for about six months. That is one reason that I adopted from the Humane Society - previously I had gone to the Animal Shelter since they are a kill shelter so that at least one less animal is put to sleep. But right now they have only one or two cats at a time, I suspect left in the outdoor cages in front for abandonment. And those were not appropriate for us to own as indoor cats.

There is a local Lost & Found Pets page on Facebook and I put Lucas on there. I filled out a form with Animal Control so if he were picked up, they could contact me and I checked their pages regularly. I would have gone in, but the shelter is not open for visitors right now.

Lucas was very smart to make it to his old home.

He's very happy cat tonight. He sat in my husband's lap, being petted for almost fifteen minutes. He let me pick him up and pet him for a long time, purring and kneading my shoulder. He wasn't that affectionate before so I think he appreciates being home.

[BigmanPigman]

8. Wow, you are lucky he is smart!

I bet he is smart enough not to repeat that lesson for a long while.

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9. Hopefully he has learned that outdoors is not a good place to be.

He'd always been an indoor cat from when the previous owner adopted him as a six month old - and he was an owner surrender bfore that, so not a feral. That's why it was amazing about the good shape he was in when he returned to his old home.

It probably helped that it was avery rainy month - we got the outer bands from two hurricanes - so the hunting was good and he had plenty of water.

[BigmanPigman]

10. Sounds like he has about 7 lives left and

I am sure he will use them wisely.