Before he became "unsettled"
This move to Arlington has been very hard on K H, our 14-year-old cat. He wanders around the house not seeming to believe we have actually uprooted him from his backyard-hunting domain. We aren’t letting him out (in Bwd he was an indoor/outdoor cat) right now for several reasons, which will become clear as you read on.
But first a little background. KH has lived with us for about 11 years. He was living “on the streets” when we moved to the family lake property in Proctor from our 30+ years in El Paso. When we moved into the added-on-to trailer, we had an only-cat named Calvin who was pretty much the boss of his world. This black “alley” cat continued to come up to the Proctor house to pick fights w/ Calvin. Eventually the black cat invited himself into our house and into our family—who adopted whom? Unclear, but Calvin and KH co-existed and fought. When we bought a house in Brownwood, we had every intention of taking KH with us, but he didn’t know that, so he “stowed away” on the U-Haul we packed with our belongings. Not sure who was the most surprised, when the U-Haul was opened in Bwd and the cat flew out. For those of you who think his name is unusual, he was named for an airfreight company for which our son-in-law worked at the time. He was black (hawk) and a kitty, hence Kitty Hawk.
Calvin died several years ago and KH became an only-cat who didn’t have to share love and attention with another critter. He was notorious for his hunting. He brought us dead birds, live birds (yep, in the house), snakes, you name it. One time he brought us a bulldog puppy that he had cornered in our yard and terrorized until we rescued the poor little thing. KH has been known as a mean cat, he’ll bite, and scratch when he doesn’t get his way. I always chalked that trait up to his homeless roots. Not something he was doing intentionally just instinct.
When we began moving furniture out of the Bwd house, he became “different”. Maybe worried is the word. His favorite sitting places were vanishing and no one had asked his permission. We went away for 2-3 days at a time and left him to fend for himself. This was not unusual, he is a pretty independent sort of guy, but when we returned, we were scolded.
We were concerned how he would take the actual 3-hour drive to our new home. Five minutes in a car to visit the vet once a year sent him into a frenzy of crying—he is not a traveler. I consulted friends and each one suggested that we get a sedative from the vet for the trip. Sounded like a good idea to me, so I did.
The day came, we were sitting around in an absolutely empty house, not even a chair to sit on, waiting for the check for our house and then we would leave town. We had the blue Smart Car all set for KH with his basket (bed), food, water, litter box, etc. We got the call that the check was ready, gave the cat the pill (not really easy, but do-able). The pill was supposed to need an hour to take effect. When we returned from depositing the check, poor KH was drunk. Not funny drunk, but sad, pitiful, drunk. We immediately were afraid we had somehow “overdosed” him. He could hardly walk and his eyes looked weird and he was frightened.
We loaded him in the car, and drove the 3 hrs to Arlington. He moaned some, but was CALM, just as the vet’s asst said he would be. He never really went to sleep, but the trip was not nearly as difficult as it might have been---on all of us.
The sedative was supposed to last about 5 hrs, but 8 hrs later, he was still stumbling around. I don’t think he recovered completely until the middle of the next day.
The first day in our new house, we made an unusual discovery---a duck was sitting on her eggs (we think, we haven’t seen them) in some ground cover in our back yard. The house had been empty while it was for sale, and I’m sure the duck family figured that was a wonderful place to raise a family. We’re about a quarter of a mile from Arlington Lake. Now we have an additional problem. Other than keeping KH inside for a few days to get him acclimated to the new place, we have the nesting duck to consider. If he gets wind of the duck, he’ll consider her a challenge. Yes, ducks can be mean, especially nesting ducks, so I’m not sure whether I’m concerned about protecting the duck or the cat, or both.
We’ve been here for 5 days and KH has been allowed once into the backyard under our supervision, and he hasn’t discovered the duck. He just wanders around the house seemingly not knowing what to do with himself, since he doesn’t have any outside to explore.
I am hoping that when the ducklings have hatched, Mom duck will find a way to get them to water and will never come back, leaving the yard to K H.
Any suggestions?
Post Script----
May 29th-- we discovered duck egg shells scattered around and no momma duck, so I am hoping that means the babies hatched and are safely elsewhere. At least that is what I choose to believe. No sign of Mom, Dad or babies and no sign of any nefarious activity. K H is spending more time outside and he is a much happier boy.
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