TWO SOX

Our neighbor abandoned their kitten when they moved. Yeah, not nice. It was not quite a year old & female. By the time we realized this it had gone back to being wild. We neighbors fed it, but it wouldn't let us get too close. Each one of us had tried to adopt it, but the cat was not interested. So, we put out bowls of food & water & named her Wild Cat.

Of course within a few months she was pregnant. We took all but one to the vet. He put them to sleep because they were filled with worms & would have died anyway. How very sad. After that she continued to have one litter after another. We put the cat de-wormer medicine in her food, but none of her kittens were ever healthy. Again, how very sad!

This went on for about two years. All of us tried to catch Wild Cat, but to no avail. Just a few of her kittens survived. Most of the females died in child birth, the males got ran over by cars. She too eventually died in childbirth.

New people moved into the house with a whole six pack of kids. They immediately began terrorizing Wild Cat. They tried to catch her. They chased her through the neighborhood just about scaring her to death. Again very sad!

I have a huge backyard with a screened in porch. I kept the door propted open so she could come in out of the bad weather. I kept a bowl of cat food & water on the porch & a big fluffy blanket for Wild Cat to lie on & keep warm.

Eventually she took up residency on my porch. My Chihuahuas & Ms Sara didn't mind. Wild Cat avoided them & they avoided her. I put a cage on the porch in hopes of catching her. I wanted to take her to the vet, get her checked over & "fixed". But all I ever caught were my Chihuahuas. Wild Cat wouldn't go anywhere near the cage, even when I put her food in it, she still avoided it.

By now she had had numerous litters & her litters had litters & on & on. Our neighborhood was over run by wild cats & they were becoming a nuisance. Some of the neighbors adopted a kitten or two, had them fixed & turned them into house cats.

Eventually it was more than we could tolerate. Everyday we found a dead cat, or a litter of half dead sick kittens. Again, very sad. We all bought cages & went on an aggressive cat catch. After some time we did eliminate the wild cats from the neighborhood.

Wild Cat had a litter on my porch. Four pitiful looking kittens. The Chihuahuas wouldn't leave them alone so I put them in the greenhouse. I was gone on travel for 6 days. When I returned Wild Cat & all but one of her kittens were dead.

We named this one Two Sox, because his two front paws were pure white. It looked like he had on socks. He immediately became one of the family. Ms Sara James became his mama. She tried her best to nurse him, but she was just too old. She was content with grooming him & playing with him. We fed Two Sox with an eyedropper filled with a special formula the vet gave us.

He grew fat & healthy. I was the only one he would let pet him, he remained wild.

When Ms Sara James died he became Burrito Beans protector. Wherever Beans was Two Sox was. Two Sox followed him around the yard making sure he didn't get hurt. He tried to play with Beans, but Beans is a scarety cat & would just panic.

Two Sox loved bubbles. I have a bubble machine which I'd plug in & set on the outdoor bar. Two Sox would jump high in the air after the bubbles. He'd chase them around the yard. Sometimes he'd think he had caught a bubble & he'd roll around on his back thinking he was holding it between his paws. This is the only time Beans would play with Two Sox. Beans would get all excited & hop around after Two Sox. Chasing after the bubbles, Beans looked like Bambi the deer running & playing through the forest.

When it was nap time they both went on the porch & layed down on Two Sox's blanket. Two Sox would cuddle up next to Beans & wrap his paws around him. Protecting him from the wild predators that roam our neighborhood.

We have lots of wild animals in our neighborhood, not just cats. We have possums, skunks, racoons, armadillos & wild turkeys. We have snakes too. The Chihuahuas have all been bitten by a snake. Ms Sara has too. They have come real close to being sprayed by skunks, close, but not quite. Thank goodness!

The possums are beyond ugly & can get really vicious. They sneak on the porch at night & eat the cat food. They hang by their tails from the rafters in the garage. With their babies clinging to them. It is NOT a cute site! Their babies are ugly. Pink with huge squinty red eyes. Ugly! They make squeaky hissing noises, like the air coming out of a balloon. Ugly! Yuk!

Possums won't back down, they will fight, they will attack. I keep a golf club on the porch to shoo them away, they are not afraid. They just look at me, with their squinty red eyes, huge mouth full of pointy sharp teeth & hiss.

The Chihuahuas are house dogs. I don't dare let them out at night by themselves for fear the armadillos, coons, or possums will get them. Once Two Sox is settled down on his blanket for the night, I shut & lock the porch doors, but the possums tore a hole in the screen. We started putting out cages to catch them, but before we could they got Two Sox.

Again, sad very, very sad. We are going to miss you Two Sox.