4/15/11 – 2/21/20.
We said goodbye to Frankie on February 21, 2020. You can read my post about that – and him – here.
In mid-January of 2017, I was laying in bed and heard the very loud voice of a howling kitty on the front porch. I went outside to see what was going on, and a small orange tabby burst out of the bushes by the front porch and ran away. (Post mentioning that is here.) Despite repeatedly calling him, he wouldn’t come back, and I figured that was the last I’d seen of him.
A week later, at bed time, Fred told me there was a strange cat out in the side yard. I went out to look, and lo and behold it was that very vocal orange tabby.
The plan was for him to become a Challenger’s House cat, be vetted and neutered and then go to the shelter. However, when he was combo tested, it turned out that he’s FIV positive.
He came back here after his surgery, and though we initially were going to try to find a home for him with the help of Forgotten Felines of Huntsville, he was such a sweet boy and he got so attached to Dewey that we decided he was meant to be ours.
Of course, not long after that, he started having issues with his mouth and he was diagnosed with stomatitis. He had surgery to have a bunch of his teeth removed, and after a couple of months had to go back and have more teeth removed. He’s got a few teeth in the front of his mouth, but having all those teeth removed didn’t seem to cure the issue. As of this writing (mid-November 2017), he is on Atopica and is being weaned off of steroids. We’re hoping that the Atopica will keep the stomatitis under control, but if not then we’ll put him back on steroids. The goal is to keep him as comfortable as possible, and right now he’s doing well.
He’s a people lover, a lap-sitter, and if I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, he follows me back to bed and snuggles up to me, rolls around, and purrs like crazy. He’s not super crazy about other cats, but likes his brother Dewey and as long as the other cats behave themselves, he ignores them.
He’s got very soft, silky fur and loves to be petted. Screams for a small pile of Royal Canin Babycat kibble every night. Loves Fred and thinks I’m okay. He’s a good boy, when he’s not being a jerk.
