Feral Portrait:
Chester
Currently, 23-28 feral cats show up twice a day on my front lawn to be fed and watered. Some of them have begun to hang out there all the time, because it is a safe place with lots of good places for a kitty to make a home. You might be interested in getting to know them,so here is one Feral Portrait. More portraits will follow.
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This handsome Tuxedo cat is named Chester. Roughly 2/3 of the cats are tuxedos. When Chester was born evidently there was a problem and he has a broken hind leg. But he doesn't seem to care. He runs and plays around freely. He is named after the Character from 'Gunsmoke' who walked with a limp.
Our county (Kern County in California) no langer will accept Feral cats at the shelter. Instead they have instigated a program of TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release back into the wild). So far they have been doing this for about 13 months and have neutered over 2,100 Ferals.
Chester was taken in to be neutered in July of this year. Sadly when he arrived, they took one look at him and said they would put him down humanely. Why? Because they only did shots and neutering, they did not have facilities to take care of broken legs, etc. We grabbed him back and took him home.
We live in a tiny mobile home park, one block long, only 31 spaces. I live at the end of the block in a corner, so it is rather safe for Chester and the others. Even though he is lame, he does just fine here.
Chester is close to being tame. He can be petted (but not on the head) and when I go out to feed the cats, Chester weaves in and out of my legs. He is a gentle cat. Though he has not been neutered, he does not engage in fights nor does he bat away the kittens who come to eat. He seems to be very friendly to the other cats.
He never misses a meal, but he also likes to lay about between meals as part of the decorations. He seems to be the Grand Old Fellow who presides over the entire area.
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