Oliver's Story: The Explanation
So this whole thing with the "lost" cat has been settled for the most part. And now that everything has been explained, the situation has somehow managed to become even more confusing. Oh, and it seems modern technology didn't fail after all, since the shelter did finally manage to track down the owner based on the old info in the microchip.
Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start...
Oliver's original owners (who apparently named him something like Sebastian-Oliver) were a young couple. He was evidently content being an indoor cat. But then the couple had a baby that unfortunately turned out to be allergic to cats. Poor Oliver ended up isolated in a little room, which supposedly made him more "independent," since he wasn't getting much attention. Somehow he fell into the hands of the Feline Rescue people. I'm not sure exactly how, but it's possible they finally realized it was impractical to keep him and decided to just give him up for adoption.
The woman who adopted him is named Jennifer (but I'll refer to her as Jen from now on because I'm lazy). At the time she lived with her parents, way up in the hills. I think they lived on a farm; she mentioned something about chickens, and having animals often get picked off by coyotes. Anyway, Jen adopted Oliver (shortening his name to just that because his old name was rather ridiculous) and brought him to live with her and her parents. Though he had previously been an indoor cat, she evidently "couldn't keep him inside." He roamed freely in and out of the house, and around the surrounding countryside. She said that he seemed to be happy there.
When she adopted Oliver he was two years old. After having him for about three years, Jen moved in with her friends, who just happen to be our next door neighbors (for those that it means anything to, it's the people with the black kitty that likes to come up to my porch). She did not say exactly why, but she mentioned something about how they were "helping each other with child care" (I got the impression she was a single mother). She left Oliver living with her parents, since she didn't think he would want to make the move from a highly rural area to a neighborhood with lots of people and cars and such.
The problem is, apparently her parents like to make long trips during the winter. So they planned to take a two month vacation, and were originally going to just leave Oliver to roam during this time, but finally decided not to because he would freeze to death in the snow (how kind of them, eh?). So they decided to have Oliver stay with Jen and her friends for the two months while they were gone.
Thing is, apparently Oliver likes really quiet places. And their house is anything but quiet. There are a lot of people living there now, including several children. They also have two dogs; supposedly Oliver was used to being with the little one, but was not at all happy about living with a big dog.
In short, Oliver was completely miserable. Jen said that he would disappear for weeks at a time before showing up again. In fact, we asked her when the last time she saw him was and she said it was probably February 1st (way before the first time I saw him hanging around my house). It tells you something about how unhappy he was that he chose crouching under the eaves of my house in the rain over going right next door where he could be inside.
Anyway, I guess he started hanging around my house because he realized there was someone there who would actually give him attention, and there weren't children and dogs running around. We had brought him to her house in a carrier when she explained all this; my mom and dad had both come too. My dad mentioned that he seemed pretty happy at his place, and even offered to take care of him. Surprisingly, she agreed pretty readily; she said that she loved him, but would really rather he be somewhere he was happy. She even gave us his bed and a bag of food she had bought for him.
So the plan is that Oliver is going to stay at my dad's house. In three weeks, when Jen's parents come back from their vacation, my dad is going to get in contact with them and see whether or not they want the cat back over there (it's unclear how attached they are to him). So my dad may or may not have a permanent pet. I'd keep Oliver myself, but he seems unhappy with all the other cats that live here already.
Oh, and apparently there is an explanation for Oliver having no collar. Jen said that he originally had one, but he managed to get it caught on something and hurt himself. After that she figured it was better, for his sake, that he just go without one. She also mentioned how he once needed surgery on one of his hind legs, because he got into a fight with another cat and got bitten, and the bite got infected.
One thing that still baffles me is how Jen kept talking about how "independent" Oliver is. I didn't get that impression at all. He kept following me around my dad's apartment while I was there, and he would get very happy when I gave him attention. It's true he doesn't seem to like sitting in people's laps, but he likes being held as long as it does not last for too long.
Also, I 'm having a really hard time picturing him as an outdoor cat, roaming the countryside. He seemed so happy when I was keeping him in the side room of my house, and in my dad's apartment. He just chilled for the most part, enjoying the attention he was getting. Maybe he only liked to be outside so much because his previous owners had kept him locked up.
I feel like a novel needs to be written about this cat's life. It's just so... strangely epic.
Oh, and one last random tidbit: the black kitty's name is Lola, and the brown kitty that lives there as well is named Snowflake (I get the feeling he was named by one of the kids).
Anyway, that's Oliver's story as it stands now.
To be continued...?
Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start...
Oliver's original owners (who apparently named him something like Sebastian-Oliver) were a young couple. He was evidently content being an indoor cat. But then the couple had a baby that unfortunately turned out to be allergic to cats. Poor Oliver ended up isolated in a little room, which supposedly made him more "independent," since he wasn't getting much attention. Somehow he fell into the hands of the Feline Rescue people. I'm not sure exactly how, but it's possible they finally realized it was impractical to keep him and decided to just give him up for adoption.
The woman who adopted him is named Jennifer (but I'll refer to her as Jen from now on because I'm lazy). At the time she lived with her parents, way up in the hills. I think they lived on a farm; she mentioned something about chickens, and having animals often get picked off by coyotes. Anyway, Jen adopted Oliver (shortening his name to just that because his old name was rather ridiculous) and brought him to live with her and her parents. Though he had previously been an indoor cat, she evidently "couldn't keep him inside." He roamed freely in and out of the house, and around the surrounding countryside. She said that he seemed to be happy there.
When she adopted Oliver he was two years old. After having him for about three years, Jen moved in with her friends, who just happen to be our next door neighbors (for those that it means anything to, it's the people with the black kitty that likes to come up to my porch). She did not say exactly why, but she mentioned something about how they were "helping each other with child care" (I got the impression she was a single mother). She left Oliver living with her parents, since she didn't think he would want to make the move from a highly rural area to a neighborhood with lots of people and cars and such.
The problem is, apparently her parents like to make long trips during the winter. So they planned to take a two month vacation, and were originally going to just leave Oliver to roam during this time, but finally decided not to because he would freeze to death in the snow (how kind of them, eh?). So they decided to have Oliver stay with Jen and her friends for the two months while they were gone.
Thing is, apparently Oliver likes really quiet places. And their house is anything but quiet. There are a lot of people living there now, including several children. They also have two dogs; supposedly Oliver was used to being with the little one, but was not at all happy about living with a big dog.
In short, Oliver was completely miserable. Jen said that he would disappear for weeks at a time before showing up again. In fact, we asked her when the last time she saw him was and she said it was probably February 1st (way before the first time I saw him hanging around my house). It tells you something about how unhappy he was that he chose crouching under the eaves of my house in the rain over going right next door where he could be inside.
Anyway, I guess he started hanging around my house because he realized there was someone there who would actually give him attention, and there weren't children and dogs running around. We had brought him to her house in a carrier when she explained all this; my mom and dad had both come too. My dad mentioned that he seemed pretty happy at his place, and even offered to take care of him. Surprisingly, she agreed pretty readily; she said that she loved him, but would really rather he be somewhere he was happy. She even gave us his bed and a bag of food she had bought for him.
So the plan is that Oliver is going to stay at my dad's house. In three weeks, when Jen's parents come back from their vacation, my dad is going to get in contact with them and see whether or not they want the cat back over there (it's unclear how attached they are to him). So my dad may or may not have a permanent pet. I'd keep Oliver myself, but he seems unhappy with all the other cats that live here already.
Oh, and apparently there is an explanation for Oliver having no collar. Jen said that he originally had one, but he managed to get it caught on something and hurt himself. After that she figured it was better, for his sake, that he just go without one. She also mentioned how he once needed surgery on one of his hind legs, because he got into a fight with another cat and got bitten, and the bite got infected.
One thing that still baffles me is how Jen kept talking about how "independent" Oliver is. I didn't get that impression at all. He kept following me around my dad's apartment while I was there, and he would get very happy when I gave him attention. It's true he doesn't seem to like sitting in people's laps, but he likes being held as long as it does not last for too long.
Also, I 'm having a really hard time picturing him as an outdoor cat, roaming the countryside. He seemed so happy when I was keeping him in the side room of my house, and in my dad's apartment. He just chilled for the most part, enjoying the attention he was getting. Maybe he only liked to be outside so much because his previous owners had kept him locked up.
I feel like a novel needs to be written about this cat's life. It's just so... strangely epic.
Oh, and one last random tidbit: the black kitty's name is Lola, and the brown kitty that lives there as well is named Snowflake (I get the feeling he was named by one of the kids).
Anyway, that's Oliver's story as it stands now.
To be continued...?