Panther

This is something I had posted previous to "For Farah".. I had wanted to show him a pic of the cat I was talking about on his blog, in response to a black cat he is considering adopting (I hope he does!)

Anyway, I could not post it there... 

This will make that story make more sense, if anyone is actually reading this! 

I have no idea what I am doing!!! 

We had a feral black cat that showed up in my yard late fall a few years ago. At first I would put out food for him. Then I thought he needed somewhere nice to sleep, cats dont like to be cold. (luckily we have very nice winters here, usually 7-8C every day)So we had a large shop in the back & I set up a big cat carrier up off the ground & put a soft plush robe in it & covered it with thick packing blanket & he actually used it! & within 1 or 2 days & then almost every night!! I would take out food & fresh water every morning, & he would come out of his little house & eat while I was there & I would talk to him & started calling him Panther. (Actually I never did know if it was a boy or girl as I could pet him after a few weeks but he would still growl & slap sometimes so I couldn't exactly look lol). When spring came, he left. I had actually saw that cat for several months before he ever showd up in my yard, and as far as 9km away & he would have had to cross a bridge to get to y house. It was a short, one car bridge at the time, but still impressive lol. I would see him along the road often on my way into town, I had always wanted to pull over & try to catch him as I was so worried he would get hit by a car. We made eye contact the last time & he was exactly 3km from my house, as he was right by the community store. I know it was the same cat because he had a limp. Which is how I know it was the same cat when he showed up i my yard. What are the odds that out of the entire East Sooke peninsula, which there is 40 square km of park alone, that he would end up in MY YARD?! This still baffles me, which is why I am telling you about it. He came back the following winter, about the same time. The shop was now finished tho & not open as it had been. So, we decided to put his cat house up on the back deck on the 2nd story, right at the back door, under a bench, which we covered with thick poly, so it would stay dry. Then we could see him hen he came as he would sit on the railing & wait for us to bring hs food lol. ANd he used his little house again. almost every night. We really considered him as ours, this time he stuck around thru summer, but would sometimes be gone for days at a time. I would be out walking with Loki & we would see Panther up the road & as soon as he would see Mom or me, he would drop lol. (So we could pet him) Even if he was a block away lol. We couldn't leave the door open for him to come in if he wanted tho as we had just gotten Thor that Jan & he was only out while on a leash & harness. I have video of Thor & Panther playing with the bird toy, I was trying to get him used to our cats. I don't think he would have ever been a "house cat" tho. Anyway... he stayed again that winter, but disappeared in the spring. (Anther reason I believe it was a he). That summer we started to let Thor go without his harness, as we couldn't keep him in it anyway.. We saw Panther one more time late summer & he was wearing a collar!! And I havent seen him since. I did see a post on facebook about someone in the community missing their cat, a girl, named "Spooky". Apparently they hadn't had her long & she was indoor/outdoor. The pic they shared looked exactly like our "Panther" lol. (She did come home btw, they updated their post a few days later).