Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Tracking the wild Bucky

Horsey has been messing with Bucky during the last couple of weeks. It’s gotten bad enough to where Bucky is changing his feeding attendance routine. He’ll be missing when everyone else has gathered to get fed and then come by later when the other cats have finished their first round of eating. Horsey has chased Bucky off occasionally when they were gathered at the feeding area before the food was brought out.

This morning Bucky was missing when I took the food bowls out. I banged one of the bowls on the ground a bit and whistled a bit to let him know I was out there. He didn’t come out immediately but a few minutes later, I did see him walking down the street back to the green zone at the dead end of the street. I called out to him, “Hey Bucky, how you doing?” as he approached the end of the street. He didn’t turn around (and I didn’t expect him to) and I could see that most of the food was gone from the bowl at the spot where he usually eats – under the back of Anne’s car. He then walked into the tall grass and disappeared into the green.

It’s cool watching him be a wild cat, but I kind of miss not ever being able to give him a petting. I’ve touched him a few times – just kind of stroked his back or tail during the feeding sessions a few times. He’s pretty nervous and doesn’t like that. We didn’t get to bond with him like we did with most of the cats. When he got trapped and then neutered, vaccinated, etc., he got away from Anne as she was transferring him from the kitty carrier to the larger kennel we planned to keep him in for a few days while he recovered from his procedure. Boy, I was mad when it happened. We didn’t see him for five of six days and I thought he was gone forever. I would have done the same thing if my nuts and ear had just been clipped by strangers, even if they were feeding me. But he showed up eventually and has been pretty regular for the last couple of years. I think this happened in the spring of 2006. He’s pretty much a scaredy cat even though he’s pretty big. He’s cute, a classic Red Tabby with golden eyes and a medium length coat – definitely not long haired, but not a sleek, smooth coat either. We love that Bucky cat.

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