One day, as I came outside I notice a quick movement dashing into the bushes. I realised that it was a cat in the yard. I immediately dashed off in search of said cat. After a lot of coaxing and gentle talk, eventually this somewhat timid cat showed her face and came to me. When I slowly reached out my hand for her to sniff me and get acquainted, she decided to try eat me instead. It was only after spending some time with her and stroking her that a found out how emaciated she was!
It was the end of Winter and she clearly hadn't fared well over the season, so I rushed off to the kitchen to get her whatever suitable food I could find. Knowing that it may be harmful to their health if you overfeed a starving or emaciated animal, I gave her very small doses of food over the next little while. After she had a full belly for the first time in months she lay on the outside mat and fell into a food coma.
It then became a regular occurrence that she would come yeowling at whatever unruly hour and demand food. It was a very difficult time because we were not sleeping at all due to this screaming cat outside our door. That is when the name Gary came about!
If you've ever watched a season of Spongebob Squarepants, you'll notice that Spongebob has a pet snail, who ironically "meows" every time Spongebob is in the vicinity. It was this demand for attention in the cartoon that got shifted onto the screaming cat outside our door.
We took her to nearby vets to see if anyone had reported her missing, as well as to check if she had a microchip. Sadly she didn't and we could not locate her owners through any missing pets reports. So we then posted her on social media trying to locate her owners, to no avail.
A few short months later, the house got sold and we had to move!
But what about the screaming female cat we'd named Gary? Although we didn't intend on owning a pet, there was no way we could abandon her (again) and we knew her chances of being rehomed were slim... So we decided that she would move with us!
After taking her to the vets again, we were told that she is an older girl of around 10 - 13 years of age, she got all her shots, a collar and tag, we got her spayed and chipped and she was ready for the move!
Although, this may have been exactly how she lost her previous family! So we were very careful to track her regular movements, and keep our routine as regular for as long as possible.
Gary has settled into her new home and has adjusted to apartment life extremely well! When we're home we leave the front door open and she'll go down one flight of stairs or so for a few sniffs, but for the most part you're likely to find her sleeping on our bed, munching from her catnip pot plant, or watching the birds outside. She has 2 outdoor balconies to choose from but you'll still find her in the same room as us no matter where we are!
And every night, when we go to sleep, she is right there next to us, cuddled in close.
We don't know how she ended up a stray, but she has a good life with us now and this is her retirement home of love <3
P.S.: You may have already noticed, this cute face below, is the cat version of our Pet PA logo!
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