Jack Oy, the Porch Cat...

Saying Hello

He started coming up on our porch daily. Very thin - but he had a great face. 

I fed him one day as I was leaving the house. He ate dog food and didn't complain.

Then the kids noticed him. 

I knew if they named him we'd be in trouble. Oy.


Mini-me named him Jack. 
A facebook friend added the oy (by asking "his name is Oy?")


And really the name suits him. The Oy's just for fun.


He didn't leave, of course, it was really quite hot during this stretch of August. We didn't want to go anywhere either. He slept in the Boxwood shrubs and we fed him. 


We talked of adoption. We made the appointment and he disappeared. I had to cancel the appointment and he came back the next day. We set the limit for him to stick around. I fully expected him to walk off. 


Especially when we found out the neighbor kid down the street wanted to adopt him. He called Jack "Tigger". Sigh. It doesn't suit Jack at all. It's unoriginal. But Who am I to say?? Little Boy down the street was upset with us but his mother apparently told him that "Tigger" (Jack) was not nice to their indoor cat (A Siamese.) 


Jack and Maggie don't get along either...but I wasn't worried. Maggie doesn't get along with anyone. 


Jack stayed for the duration and we took him to the vet for blood work and ... well.... neutering.

He passed the blood test but he had worms. 
I've never seen a drugged up cat before. I'm fairly certain Jack's eyes were rolling around in his head. Maybe cartoons are based on fact, after all. 


The professor and I happened to be standing outside when Jack was able to venture outside. He looked at us and started walking down the road.
I watched him go. With only shadows of his "manlicathood" remaining, and I laughed. He walked a bit stiff legged. 


Then I laughed harder.  The more I thought about it the harder I laughed.
I called The Professor and laughed ... but the professor didn't think it was as funny as I did. I think he just humors me most of the time.


What if we'd just hacked off the boy parts of someone else's cat?
I laughed and laughed just thinking of it.


"Welcome home Morris! I was wondering where....WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!?"


I just laughed. Every now and again, I still chuckle about it.
I was that amused.

Jack did come back, though.
AND he started coming into the house through the doggie door.
Gizmo doesn't mind. At first, we started seeing Gizmo's herding instincts and I tried to break him of it. After a week or so, I realized Jack and Gizmo were becoming friends.

Of course, views like this helped tremendously to alleviate any inter-species worries.

Sharing a bed in the night

I guess boys stick together. I thought it might be a fluke...but then we started watching Jack and Gizmo playing in the back yard. 

Snoozing on the Couch

 Jack comes in at night, when he wants to nap and when he wants to eat. I suspect, he also comes in when he's stirred up some trouble and needs to lay low.

Maggie tolerates his presence briefly before she turns her regal back and slinks off. 

The kids adore Jack. Gizmo adores Jack. 

But I'm fairly certain J-man has a special fondness for Jack.

J-man and Jack

But it's just a hunch.

we've recently said farewell to Mini-Me's hamster and J-man's betta fish. It's been fun for all to say, "At least we have Jack."

He seems to like us.
So it's a win-win.