The story of a roamer - Tom the cat!

I have had many cats, some were with me for over decades and touched my heart in a very special manner.

Some others were just ships in the sea of life being with us only for a few weeks during my time of fostering.

Some others broke my heart moving by deciding that I was not their human.

Those are the ones that give bad reputations to all the other faithful and loyal cats, and the ones that makes you realise that cats are truly amazing strong independent creatures.

So let’s talk about my beloved TOM, that cat could have had a blog of his own, the famous TOM.

Tom had to have his tail removed following a car crash, but this never stopped his sense of adventure.

Tom was adopted by a lovely man who after a few weeks, brought him back to the adoption center mentioning that he could not handle him...

The staff was a little puzzled as he is such a loving cat.

And that is when he came into my life…and taught me that patience and love, are not always successful to make a cat happy. 

He came to me as a foster - from the beginning I should have known he was going to be trouble.

The very first day we had him, he managed to leave through the kitchen window and had to be hunted through different neighbours gardens.

Being an adult cat, it does take a little more time to find those older fosters a forever home compared to kittens.

He was with us for about 9 months before the original foster who looked after him following his operation decided to adopt him.

I felt like he was the cat that had escaped me, and I regretted not having adopted him myself, but this was obviously how the first foster also felt, so I could not blame her.

Few months came and went, until Tom was once again returned to the adoption center, this time by a person who had found him in the street. 

It seems that the owner just could not manage to keep him in the house.

He was then being fostered once again until he recovered being in the street and needing some well deserved TLC.

When the adoption day came, I just could not let another person take him and decided to be his forever Mummy.

I have to say, Tom pushed my love and patience to the limit.

 He was a roamer, this means he is a cat with a very large territory.

He would very rarely make his way home by himself.

I would need to drive around the neighborhood every night until I found him.

Eventually, I put a very large plate on his collar - mentioning his name, my phone number - explaining that he just was a happy outside cat but if found after 10 to call me and I would pick him up

And pick him up there was,...

            He would always go and listen to the Choir practice in the local Church - so at the end of their session they would call me to pick him up

            He would love going to the local night club, who would call me around 2am to come and get him at closing time.

            He used to get in the local school classrooms, so the ground keeper would call me to come and get him back 

And finally, home himself in an actual pet shop, sleeping in many different beds on sale, and at closing time they would call me so that once again. I would go and pick him up.

Anyhow, this lasted over 2 years.

There were some ups and downs, it is not easy to always find humour in being awake at all hours.

There were times where people were abusive due to his attitude, I even received some threats towards my well being but also towards Tom’s and poison was mentioned at some stage.

I can understand to a certain degree, how people could feel that I was not looking after that cat properly.

And with such people, there is no way to actually explain the situation, they do not care and do not want to understand that cats cannot be controlled.

I know some people think that cats can be tamed or can be locked in and eventually will become house cats, but this is poppycock…. 

A cat’s nature cannot be altered and if you try to keep an outside cat in, both your lives will be miserable!

Between the constant meowing, the different presents that will be left in the house to frustrate you and the plain rejection, eventually, once has to admit defeat.

I was at that moment with Tom, where I could  not see an optimistic solution and I was getting tired of the rejection, the stress of not knowing what would happen to him.

And one day, a wonderful day, I was called by a lovely couple telling me that Tom had moved in with them. A wonderful present for them.

It was during the snowstorm, they had noticed him in the apartment building parking lot and took him in for a few weeks.

Because of his personality I was concerned that he would move on again, so we decided to keep bringing him home regularly.

After over a year, we realised that he was not moving on and was desperate and sad to leave their place to come to mine.

He was literally leaving my house for their place, each time the door was opened.

It was a tag game, I would text when he left and exactly within the time of his journey, I would get a text back that he had arrived.

He has now been living with his humans for 4 years and is not showing any signs of moving on.

I still get to babysit him when his owners go on holiday and have to accept that I was not the chosen one.

But what an adventure it was.

Until the next time, wishing you all a wonderful week….