Hurricane Isabel

It is the sixth anniversary of Hurricane Isabel, which means it is also the sixth anniversary of the day that Pegasus came into my life and introduced me to the world of feral cats. By the way, the photo is of Zorro, the son of Pegasus, who is the spitting image of his dad. I chose this photo because it really could be mistaken for a shot of Pegasus (I am not in the mood to search through boxes of snapshots to find a picture of the first feral cat in my life--and then I would have to figure out how to scan the photo--so perhaps another time).

Coming home from work six years ago, I dumped my half-eaten bag of popcorn for the crows to eat in my yard. A little later, I saw a hungry-looking black cat eating the popcorn. When he returned to the same spot and sat there daily, I began feeding him regular catfood. However, this black cat started changing his appearance each time I saw him. It was barely noticeable, but Pegasus never looked exactly the same to me. It had not dawned on me that there were two black cats visiting my yard, until I finally saw them together and thought I was seeing double. Gemini was the appropriate name for the twin cat; they really did look like matching bookends.

Anyone observing Pegasus running down my hillside the following spring would have seen why I had chosen his name. He truly appeared to have wings, especially when he ran down the slope. Literally. But that is a different story.

Months later, I watched Pegasus escort half-grown kittens into my yard. That is when I learned that there was a feral cat colony in the neighborhood. Even though the feral cat colony had caretakers, I would get occasional visitors looking for food in my yard. Sadly, Pegasus and Gemini moved on years ago, and I do not know what happened to the feral cat colony cats. That is, with the exception of one of the first kittens that Pegasus had brought into my yard. She is now a tattooed (instead of ear-tipped), spayed feral cat living inside my house, but that is another long story. The point of this story is that I have been observing feral cats for six years. And I have been adopted by a few, who are now housecats. Their choice. They could have chosen to return to life on the outside.