In mid-February, 2007, I was working on the brakes of my pick-up. It was a nice day and I was in the driveway. It was moderately cold, and patches of snow clung to shady spots under the trees. I was on my knee, hunched with my head under the fender when I heard a frantic MEOW from the bushes behind me. I turned to see a skinny, dirty, white and orange cat pacing back and forth along the chain link fence that served as the border between our yard and the surrounding forest. I had my hands full with the brakes, and we already had three cats in the house. I wasn’t really interested in a fourth. 

I heard the chain-link rattle, so turned to see what was going on. The cat was climbing the fence. A moment later he was rubbing his head on my backside. “Go away little dude, I’m busy,” I mumbled, distracted by my work. I felt him climb my hunched back and lay down on my shoulders. “Hmm,” I thought. “I guess we have a new cat.”

Finished with my work, I straightened up to dump him off my shoulders. He hopped down and sat beside me as I picked up my tools. He followed me into the yard, peeing on everything in sight.

It was obvious why someone had brought him out to the middle of nowhere to dump him. He was at the age where a male cat marks everything. He marked the truck tire, the bench, the fruit trees, the door of the shed, just to name a few things. If it didn’t move, he peed on it. 

We got him some food and water. Being late in the day, we arranged a makeshift bed in the shed and closed him in for the night. In the morning we called the nearest vet to make an appointment and set off on the eighty-mile trip.

The vet on duty scolded us for his poor condition, but was apologetic when we told her the story. She informed us that he was between one and two years old, and is a Norwegian Forest cat – a fairly common breed and a good house cat.

Bobby was cleaned up, got his shots, and was fixed all in one day. We shopped and visited some friends while he was with the doctor. 

Sixteen years later, Bobby is an old boy who still likes to sleep on me. He has always been well behaved and is best buddy to every other cat in the house.