The Story of Charcoal the cat - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

As I sat down to begin the 2nd chapter of “The Story Charcoal the Cat”, I realized that I had forgotten a very monumental occasion in his life. Well I am not sure that he would agree that it was monumental, but it was an event that I’m sure he will never forget and one that greatly altered his life and ours.

Annapolis Royal and area is full of wonderful caring people and those willing to donate numerous hours of volunteerism. A small group of volunteers established a trap, neuter, and release (TNR) program for feral cats, in the County of Annapolis in 2006. They have done an amazing amount of work and have made a significant difference in the number of feral cats in the county. The cats are taken to the vet, checked for disease, given shots, then spayed or neutered, and within 24 hours to 48 hours of rest, the cat is returned to the location that he/she was trapped.

In early September both Paul and I felt that it would probably be best if Charcoal was no longer a tom cat and we were also anxious to have his health checked to make sure he was doing fine. It was a difficult decision knowing he was old, but not sure how old, we had a fleeting moment of indecisiveness thinking it might be unfair to the old boy to change his ways after so long. The moment passed and I called my friend Steve who is one of the organizers of Team TNR and explained our situation, along with stressing how worried I about trapping him. I was sure he would be scared to death and of course once returned and released would leave the Hillsdale House property forever. Steve very graciously offered to come very early one morning to set the trap before our guests were up wandering the property. My only job was to stop feeding him for at least 24 hours so that he would be hungry enough to take the bait. This was a very hard task for me, Charcoal and I were making such progress together and I felt terrible.

The morning arrived, the trap was set, and now all we had to do was wait. Steve indicated that it could take many hours; I have to confess I was so stressed and so worried about how scared he would be when he was caught that I almost called it off. Fortunately I didn’t have to wait long and within 2 hours he was safe in his cage, with a blanket over top of him and off to the vet clinic for his life altering experience. The procedure went well, thanks again to Team TNR and to Dorothy who took him home in his cage to her shed for the night so he would be safe.
Dorothy arrived at 6:30 am the next morning and we opened the cage and released Charcoal back to the Hillsdale House property. Naturally he bolted, in his creaky arthritic way and all we could do was hope he would come back. Within 12 hours he returned to his food bowls and amazingly enough didn’t seem to be any more timid than he was before he left.

Whew, it was over, he was no longer a tom cat, his shots were up to date and he even came back to his family - what more could we ask for?

Stay tuned for the next chapter, the winter of 2007!

The story of Charcoal the cat - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

In the spring of 2007, the second spring that Paul and I owned the Hillsdale House Inn,  we spotted the skinny, arthritic, old and almost scary looking grey cat. He had been a feral cat in the area for quite sometime; in fact my first sighting of him was in the fall 2001 when I first moved to Annapolis Royal. When the sun shined, even from a distance, he had a brown tinge to his fur, and naturally the name Charcoal was given to this very interesting feral cat.

Both Paul and I love animals deeply and started our mission to try and feed this wild kitty. For the first several months we would put food out on the side veranda, he was so wild that even knowing there was food on the way; he would run if we opened the door and he happened to be within 150 feet of us. We gave him lots of space and even Simonette our indoor/outdoor Siamese cat seemed to respect that the food was for someone in much greater need. By the end of the summer of 2007 we could talk to him through the window and by the late fall we could be outside within 10 feet.

As winter was about to approach we were scared for his survival outdoors for another winter. The search began and we were lucky enough to find an insulated cedar cat house on the internet, handmade in, of all places, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. We then came across a website that specializes in feral cat products and found a heater for his new digs. Everything arrived and we installed his house on our covered veranda, poured a glass of wine, sat in our lawn chairs and wondered how we would ever get in him to go in his house.
Well cats are sneaky and without us noticing, he had found his new house, assumed it was for him and was curled within 10 minutes.

Stay tuned for chapter 2…………..