Stay Here Witchoo? Fughettaboudit.

It is always a spectrum of emotions when it comes to colony keepers and their feral cats. Some are colony keepers not by choice but by moral dilemma. They got saddled with ferals in one way or another - either they came with the property, wandered there on their own, or got dumped by some irresponsible individual, who couldn't be bothered. They can't make themselves dispose of the cats, so they feed them and complain to whomever will listen. Others are so deeply attached that they would do anything for their babies. They make sure that they're fixed, keep their shots updated, and generally take care of the cats to the best of their abilities. Bugsy Seigel is lucky enough to have one of the latter. (Did I mention his last name could be Luciano?)

I called his colony keeper earlier in the week to let her know Bugsy's prognosis. Enraged, I think, is the best way to describe her reaction to the discovery of the bullet wounds and his overall physical condition. She fumed and promised that a trip to the vet to see what could be done about the lodged bullets would be in the near future, and that there would be no chance for a repeat episode. She said, "Well, I don't know who owned him before, or who dropped him, but I know who he belongs to now, and he's stayin' in the house with me!"  I personally don't know how Bugsy is going to feel about losing his outdoor hunting ground, but I have a feeling he's not going to argue about access to the couch and air conditioning. He's no fool. Now he'll be able to watch Sopranos reruns and wonder why he didn't think of that first.

It really wasn't much effort to get him into the carrier this afternoon. I showed him his favorite bag of treats and made a trail from his tower to the cat carrier. Bugsy followed them, and while he wasn't crazy about the thought of being in a small box, he didn't put up much fuss. He knew he was going home. There's really no sense in fighting when you're getting what you want.

When he got inside his new home, he ambled confidently into the bedroom to greet the master of the house. His new Godfather scooped him up and told him that he'd be staying with them. I was somewhat surprised that Bugsy not only allowed this but rested his head on the man's shoulder. As I said, this cat's no fool, and as the great gangster himself said, “Everybody deserves a fresh start every once in a while.”