Adopting throw away pets. Meet Freddie the Freeloader

Selecting a pet should be a positive event. Sometimes they select us.

Fred was a stray that came out of the woods one day. He came to the back porch, looked through the glass sliding doors, saw cats inside and turned around, backed up to the glass door and 'sprayed' it while i sat there watching him flabbergasted. So i went to the door and chased him off into the woods. What little good that did.

He was back daily and sprayed the glass door for about 3 weeks. The smell was dizzying and was starting to get to me every time i opened the door. Spray washing and spraying neutralizers did not stop this behavior and neither did my chasing him off into the woods every time i caught him on the back porch or in the back yard.

So, i thought i would try a new tactic. I would feed him until i could get my hands on him - then off to the vets he would go to find him another home to haunt. It took a couple more weeks before he trusted me enough to get close enough for me to grab him. So i did it. And quickly popped him into a cat carrier i had in waiting to carry him to the vet for disposal.

You know the old saying about the best laid plans of mice and men.

All the vet had to say was: "what a beautiful tom cat. Looks like he is not quite a year old. What's he here for today?" I promptly corrected him and said he was not my cat. Just a stray that keeps "spraying" my glass sliding doors. The vet just laughed and said "we can fix that." I asked sarcastically, "How? You got a rubber band small enough to tie around his little "sprayer"?

He said laughingly "no he needs to be neutered. It takes about 30 days before the testosterone level is low enough to stop his need to spray to 'mark' his territory to attract the female cats." so i just turned to him (the cat) and said - why you little gigolo! He looked up at me and gave me a quiet little "meow" as if to say, "please don't do it". And at that moment i knew i could not send him away.

So, he had his little surgery and promptly moved in to the house with the other cats. He soon became part of my little family, that seemed to be growing rapidly.

Fred loved to play. He would find something to bat around the floor and do that for hours. As he got older his favorite past time was following me around, and as you can see in a couple of the photos - he was content just sitting on the arm of the couch staring at me nodding off in my recliner while watching t.v. (I think the snoring noises fascinated him - or at least amused him).

He also enjoyed spaghetti, actually all pastas, all vegetables, potato chips, cookies, spicy foods, and loved ice cream and yogurt. I had to put him on a diet when he reached 35 pounds. He was a happy and playful cat up until last year when he started losing weight and stopped eating. He was diagnosed with feline leukemia and went down hill rapidly. I finally had to have him put to sleep, i could not watch him like that any longer. I held him at the vet during the procedure. It was very sad. He had a peaceful and painless passing. His suffering was over - my sadness just beginning. It always hurts deeply to watch someone you love suffer and pass on.

He still lives on in the musical DVD slide show i made of all the pets, and in my memories. I posted some pix so you could enjoy and celebrate his life with me. I came to love that little stray that just showed up at the door one day and never left. He lived to be 12 - 13 years old before he passed on. I think about him often.

by: d.william 09/19/10

This is tribute to my beloved cat.

His name was Fred. We nicknamed him "Freddie the Freeloader" after the old Red Skelton show character.

Freddie was born in 1998. Died in 2010.