By Dorothy
Now I’ve done it! This is Marvin. He has lived on the school property near my house for about 12 years. I met him several years ago when I moved to the area. I learned that a lady who works at the school near us had been feeding him, and was responsible for a TNR program that took care of the local colony which has since dwindled to a mere six or so cats.
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One of the cats from that group has lived on my property now for about 4 years. I call her Yellow. She has a few stories here on PoC if you search. Marvin is either her brother, or possibly her kitten. Though they don’t get on now. They have many similarities except Marvin is more of an orange tabby with Bengal looking markings, and she is a natural blond! The other huge difference is that he loves to cuddle. In all these years, I have never been able to pet Yellow Cat. She comes close, and will even sniff my hand, but she won’t let me stroke her beautiful fur. Marvin is also a screamer. His voice is so loud, you can hear him coming a block away.
We adopted him last week. I say adopted, it was really a handshake. The kind woman (I’ll call her Ms G.) who saved all the cats was so happy we were willing to take on all responsibility of Marvin. Every time there is a new superintendent of schools, she runs into trouble about caring for the cats. We have been feeding Marvin on the weekends and holidays for two years now. Ms. G. was unable to spend any time now with him for fear of losing her job, and Marvin was getting lonely. He started following us home. At first, he tried to get into the back yard where Yellow Cat and her best friend Shadow hang out, but that didn’t work. There were cat fights, and he really didn’t seem comfortable in another cats territory. I started inviting him to eat on the front porch a few times and soon he showed up every morning. I noticed fleas on him when I brushed him, and tape worms on his bottom. I decided to talk to Ms G about us taking over.
I like that he doesn’t mind coming in the house (now that he is treated for worms and fleas) but he doesn’t want us to close the door. So he stays a while, snuggles with Daisy the 90 lb dog, gets a few treats, then retreats to the front where he lounges under shrubs like the king of the manor!
It surprises me that the front and back are separate territories, but there is peace with the cats. An apparent gentle understanding amongst the felines. All this, and the indoor prince is ignoring the whole process! For Bigfoot, ignorance is bliss.
The front has a covered porch, so maybe this is the year that Marvin will sleep warm on his own heated bed for the first time in his life. As you see in the pictures, his ears are rather gnarly. The clip is from being neutered, but all those other tears are either from fights or frost bite. We have plenty of frozen nights here, though no snow.
My husband named him Starvin Marvin when we first started feeding him. Named only because he was clearly far from starving! Such a sweet cat. Surely, a feral gone domestic.
Dorothy
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He has all the qualities of a big, solid, ginger tabby tom cat. These are boss cat types and a classic cat.
My mother kept a domestic ginger tabby tom once and one day he left (despite being spoiled) and never came back. He spent his almost his entire life in the wild and came back when he was near the end of his life and had arthritis from all those cold winters he endured.
He just walked in a settled down. He was badly crippled by then.
Ouch. He was an adventurer, clearly. Well, I hope Marvin is done exploring and will settle in for his old age here with me. I’ll let you know.
dw
That’s such a nice story – thanks for sharing! These kinds of stories are the best 🙂 …hope he will decide to come live with you this winter. Good luck.
Thanks Marc. I hope so too. Fortunately for me, he craves physical attention. And good food! I love having him around.
dw
Hi dw..he is a beautiful cat. He is a true male cat. He has a very strong male cat face. He likes you. You have a friend for life. He needs a bit of female TLC. And well done. You’re good to have made his life better.
Thanks Michael. And yes, he has a muscular frame and big square face. I’d have named him Macho! I have to keep a thick towel on my porch chair for my lap, as he is a vigorous kneading cat and I’d never trim his nails. He needs them I’m sure, living the tomcat life. Plus, my lap is too small for him. He’s huge.
He will always have a place in my heart and on my lap.
dw