Tucson first showed up at the old JMCC in 1999. He was a regular at the feeders in the Cat Garage, but shy with us. One day, when Momma Beth and I were sitting in the Cat Garage watching Tucson eat and wondering how we were going to catch him to get him tootered, he wandered into an open cat carrier on his own!   Sloooooowly we made our way to the door, shut it, and took him off to see TED, where he got tootered, shots, a microchip--the works.  TED estimated his age to be 2-3 years at that time.  Everything went fine; and, after he recovered, we released him back into the Cat Garage. He got to know his way around the JMCC; and, young and still full of testosterone, decided he should have it all to himself.  He identified Penrod (RB) as Alpha Male and attacked him with unusual fervor several times, each time taking a large chunk of fur and flesh with him. Two strikes and he was apprehended and confined to The Tower (aka the guest bedroom/visiting animal room/cat nursery/hospital/adoption room) to await placement in a good home.

Early in 2000, we adopted Tucson out to a nice young man named Aaron. Aaron had a home and a job, lived alone, and wanted a nice cat companion.  He had no other animals, didn't want more than one cat, and agreed to allow him in the Out only with supervision (i.e., on a leash or in an enclosed area).  We had checked him out thoroughly, and it looked like a great match. We went to see Tucson in his new home and made follow-up phone calls to make sure everything was okay. As far as we could tell, everything was fine. After several follow-up calls, we left them alone to bond together, making sure that Aaron knew how to get in touch with us. Our adoption contract required that Aaron give Tucson back to us if he couldn’t continue to care for Tucson.

We heard nothing of Tucson until early November 2005, when I got a call from the emergency clinic in Portland (about a 3.5 hour drive from here, maybe 3 hours from where Aaron had lived). Tucson had been brought in as a stray, with an injured eye.  They had scanned him, and the chip had led to us. (Hooray for the microchip, which saved his life!!!!)

The emergency doctor said he was dehydrated and full of fleas and was probably going to lose his eye.  I explained the situation to her and asked her to do what was necessary but please try to save his eye. She transferred me to somebody at the desk.  I started to give this person my credit card number, but she said that, since there was another owner, she couldn’t accept my authorization to treat him. I explained that I was legally now the owner of Tucson, since Aaron was nowhere to be found; and I faxed her a copy of the adoption contract. She said that Tucson was now legally a ward of the county; and, under these circumstances, their policy was to do minimal care and send him to the county pound.  If I wanted to discuss the situation further, I should take it up with the pound.  I called the pound and explained the situation to a woman there, and faxed her a copy of the adoption contract.  She said they had to keep Tucson there for six business days and try to find Aaron.  I was concerned about Tucson’s health, and she assured me that they have a vet there and that he would receive good daily medical care.  She said that, after six days, they would place him in a longer-term shelter (she named a very good no-kill shelter in Portland), where they would try to place him in a new home.  I reminded her that Tucson legally belongs to me, but I would allow him to stay there briefly if they could help me find Aaron (I was willing to listen to Aaron’s side of the story in case he had a good explanation) and if Tucson would get proper medical care there.  I thought that, if they could get him into that good no-kill shelter, then perhaps the shelter would work with me to help find him a new home.  It would have been hard to find a place for him here at the new JMCC now that all the cats are in the In, in view of Tucson's history of aggression with other cats. 

When the six business days were up, I called the pound. They had not been able to find Aaron and told me that the plan was to put him down "for health reasons."  As far as I could tell, he didn't have anything wrong with him that wasn't curable with good veterinary and nursing care.  I said, "No, you’re NOT going to put him down because he’s MY CAT and I’m coming to get him."

In the car, on the way back from the pound, Tucson sat waaaay in the back of the carrier, curled up and with airplane ears, looking terrified. We kept hearing these noises coming from his carrier, and we thought he was hisspitting at Tonka doggie (RB), who was riding with us, but it turned out the poor guy could hardly breathe, and he was just constantly sneezing and snorting. Fortunately, TED was able to see him on the way home. He was a sight. Seriously dehydrated, with loose skin hanging from his body and with fur thick with flea dirt everywhere. He had dried snot all over his coat: face, head, paws, tail, and even his back. His nose was sealed shut with snot. The area around his eye was swollen and red, and he was holding his eye squinted mostly shut. And he was thinner than when I had last seen him. However, the eyeball itself was fine. I was a little nervous about how he was going to react to being handled, frightened as he was, but as soon as we lifted off the top of the carrier and he saw friendly hands, he immediately started purring loudly and kneading intensely on his synthetic sheepskin blanket, and he started doing cute goofy upside down things with his head. He was soooo grateful for the help.

Apparently, his eye had been much worse when he was first picked up. His records said that his whole eye was swollen shut, so you couldn’t even see it, and there was blood and pus coming from it. On the other hand, they hadn’t said anything about his respiratory illness, so maybe he had picked it up at the pound. They had been giving him antibiotics and eye drops, but I was angry that they hadn’t at least taken care of his fleas and hydrated him properly. So much for the good medical care at the pound.

TED put him on different a different oral antibiotics and prescribed an antibiotic-steroid combo eye ointment and antibiotic drops for his nose. He told me to give him subQ fluids and saline nose drops too, as well as decongestant nose drops. He gave him a flea shot and worm medicine and told me to put Advantage on him.

We set him up a hospital room in the bathroom, and he stayed there for two weeks, recovering.  The first couple of days, he was so sick Beth and I wondered if he would make it.  He seemed to have given up. He wouldn’t eat or drink, probably because he couldn’t smell his food,  and he was totally exhausted from illness and starvation and dehydration.   We syringe-fed him A/D for five days and constantly bothered him with medicines and drops and ointments and combings and steam treatments to help him breathe. He would come out of his bed (the carrier) for a little while to get loved up—purring and kneading the whole while—and then he would get worn out and go back to bed.  He didn’t seem to mind at all being confined in the bathroom during that period and showed little interest in what was beyond the door.  He was just glad to have a safe and peaceful place to recover.

During those two weeks, we set up an 8x10 chain link dog kennel in our garage and covered it with a tarp. We put a carpet in the kennel and built a shelf with ramp and put in a cat tree, a lamp and chair. We set up a heated cat bed on the shelf by a window and made a cardboard box condo with another heated cat bed and set up food, water, litter, scratching post, toys, and a radio. We brought in a baseboard heater, installed a smoke alarm, and set up a baby monitor so we could hear if the smoke alarm went off.  When he was well enough, we transferred to these temporary quarters.

He’s doing well in there and has recovered completely. His eyes are fine, he’s eating well, and his coat is clean and shiny. His only physical limitation is a knee deformity that he’s had as long as we’ve known him, probably from an old injury, that apparently makes it difficult for him to jump up (although he climbs very well) and causes him to sit with his right leg slightly extended at the knee.  We let him run loose in the garage when we're not going in and out of it, and we set up a small window enclosure with stairs leading to it so he can get some natural daylight and sun, and we got him a walking jacket and leash so that he can get some fresh air and exercise.  He adapted amazingly well to both, and he loves his flying feather toy and his mouse-inna-track.  He is an excellent mouser, having rid our garage of 5 mice and a rat!! 

Despite having fairly decent living quarters, he is still mostly isolated and living in a garage.  He is lonely, and doesn't understand why he can't come into the house and be with the rest of us.   He still does not seem to do well with other animals, though--cats or dogs.  And he can't live loose in the Out, because of his limited mobility, not to mention that it's just not safe out there.  He really needs a loving home, and we have promised him that we will do our very very best very sure that this time it truly is a OneTrooForever Home.