From the day Nella made this plurk until this past Friday, Bruce was a stray I was feeding and trying to rescue from the streets. Several months ago we even tried to shove him into my carrier and he fought us both off, which meant I had to start over with getting his trust etc.
The reason for the rush was partially to get him before anything happened to him, certainly, but also because the area he wanted me to feed him in was someone's fucking outdoor heroin den. Surprise!
Which I found out after the downstairs neighbor saw us trying to get Bruce on day 1 and started beating on my door at all hours in a paranoid rage that I was spying on him. There are dents in my door. Cops were called by other neighbors. It was a whole thing.
Anyway, I kept feeding Bruce and getting him to trust me, I had him where I could pet him before the attempt to shove him in the carrier. I got him back to that point and even to where he would stand on my lap to eat treats, and had started taking the carrier out with me with the idea of feeding him in it until I could close the door...
He was an intact male so vanishing for several days was normal, he had territory to wander, but he vanished for weeks. The last I'd seen him was on September 26th.
Last Thursday I put out a trap (Bruce had shown himself too smart for traps, sadly, but I was just trying anything in case he showed up). I caught another stray I'd spotted around the area, and brought her inside overnight to take to the APA in the morning. (No-kill shelter that does their own vet work.)
While on their website to get their hours and address, I went scrolling down their adoptable page to look at the pictures (they range from adorable to hilarious) and names (same range)...
Turns out someone found him with a wounded leg on October 4th and took him to the APA! So for the weeks I'd been worrying, he'd spent a week and a half in the shelter safe and sound.
So Nella met me at the APA after work on Friday, I turned in the other stray (who I also might end up adopting after she clears medical and is spayed etc), and picked up mr. Bruce. He's already co-existing with my resident cat who is currently napping about three feet from him in my living room.
His leg was just soft tissue damage and seems to be fine now, he's missing teeth, has one broken canine, and is FIV+. But he's only 3 and is so mellow I've come to realize his many fight scars were almost certainly defensive.
Eevee smacked him in the face last night and he just sat where he was with his eye half closed until I came over to make sure he was okay. (He is, she didn't scratch him.)
Anyway he and I had lots of time to form a bond, and also with his collapsed ear he was unlikely to get adopted by a stranger. So now he's my sweet boy.
The ear doesn't seem to bother him any, the cartilage was just... snapped at some point and now it's flappy. He lets me handle it, so peeking under there once in a while to make sure it's clean is easy.
He has a bald-ish streak on his face that lines up with it, I kind of wonder if he got clipped by a car or something. Could be when he lost some of the teeth as well.
also he got closer to me today while I was putting his new can down, after I woke him up by talking to him
like 8 ft instead of 10 but still
And came across a VERY FAMILIAR FACE.
amazing
I'm glad you took him home and that he's safe now!
I did, but my emotions have been shattered for a while now, soThe ear doesn't seem to bother him any, the cartilage was just... snapped at some point and now it's flappy. He lets me handle it, so peeking under there once in a while to make sure it's clean is easy.