Sunday, March 8, 2009

Fare ye well, young Frederick…

Camera Critters
"Fare ye well, young Frederick" is this week's "Camera Critters" post. If you want to participate, click on the image above.




For the last three months, a stray cat has been loitering around the studio. Being out in a rural area, I see stray cats from time to time, mostly feral and scavenging for food. But this little guy, affectionately named “Fred” (or “Freddy” or “Frederick” or “Federico” – however the mood struck me), was recognisably different from the rest. He didn’t seem as mangy as the standard feral and my suspicion was that he was dumped out here as a young kitten and forced to fend for himself.

He was quickly shown the lay of the land by our oldest cat, Jonesy. This lad is a big puss, and even though he is incredibly generous with his territory, Jonesy still likes to make it clear who is the boss. So Fred never became hostile towards my two cats because of his fracas with the Jones, and settled into a mutually considerate existence on the back deck. But whilst he may have been friendly with Jonesy, my little girl Ella never cared for Fred and would avoid any areas where he lay. I also think that perhaps Jonesy was merely tolerating Fred…

It took me some time to arrive at the point where Fred would trust me enough to allow me to handle him. When I finally did, the affection he displayed towards a simple stroke of the back was extremely touching. He had obviously never felt the kind hand of a human. Soon though, he became exceedingly demanding, clawing at the back door for his breakfast and dinner. I think he learnt some bad habits from Jonesy!

To cut a long story short, I had to make a tough decision and surrender him to the RSPCA. The bottom line was that Jonesy and Ella have a special bond that was disrupted by the introduction of Fred, and my consideration had to lie with my two beloved babies. Since Fred departed last week, Ella has been much happier and she and Jonesy have begun to play again – something they hadn’t really done during the past three months. Hopefully, Fred will find a new home with loving ‘parents’ who will give him all the affection he craves.


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9 comments:

  1. What an adorable kitty kitty! It's cool how cats gravitate towards human companionship, and they're easy to get along with.

    I'm so sorry to hear about Frederick. He looks like my Brick does, piercing eyes.

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  2. fred has a certain look in his eye...


    ... he's fine.

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  3. I know exactly what you went through altho i so far have not had the courage to get rid of momma cat who was dumped off this winter and had 5 babies that she trusted me to care for.

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  4. He's so adorable I'm sure he'll find a new homw. Cats don't have owners thay have servants.

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  5. my favorite is the 2nd picture. i like how you can see through the fence frames.

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  6. Yes, deryke is right, frederick has something in his eyes! I don't know... Something definitely has! Perhaps some feline's green like my cat has too!... :-) Now, talking about cats searching for homes, i must tell you that all my cats are losted cats landed in my yard and i couldn't just send them away! I like them... So i adopt'em all. I have 5 now. I had 7, but two of them were killed or lost in the woods... Manz, i read in National Geographic magazine that in Australia many farmers are killing cats! Sad, if that is an solution for them!... Happy woman's day Manz!

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  7. Weird things are happening in blogland, I left you a comment on this post a couple of days ago, but it disappeared ;-(
    Just noticed that because I popped over to tell you Tumtum is a pet pig. He doesn't come into the house however. He and his little brother Nufnuf live somewhere in our garden. They are very sweet and love a tummyrub. We rescued them from a trip to the butcher. Tumtum looks like a wild pig, Nufnuf is a Vietnamese potbellied pig. (Petpigs were sort of a hype here a couple of years ago. And then they grow and grow and grow and people can't take care of them anymore. Such a shame. They are very characterful animals that deserve more respect.)

    Frederick looks like a wonderful cat. He will surely find a servant that will take care of him ;-) Must have been a difficult step to take for you. But it's nice to see your cats have their life back now.

    And thanks for your wonderful comments.

    Hugs xx

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  8. I miss Fred :(

    Thank you for the comments everyone. I appreciate them all :)

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