The Story of a cat named Four.  This is a long story, three years long!
Purrs for a happy ending to it.

Three years ago a magnificent, truly magnificent, healthy, adult, male,
Maine Coon cat came into our Central Florida neighborhood to visit those of
us who were out working in the yard, bar-b-qing or sitting out. He did not
want anything , he was purely a social animal. He visited us and a real
treat for me is that he was a "talker." We had many wonderful
"conversations." He was apparently someone's cat as he was well fed and
groomed.

After months of his visiting he disappeared for about a week. When he
returned he had the most horrific injury I have every seen on a cat. The fur
and skin was torn from him from under his jaw to his shoulder and from the
top of his neck to just under his neck. This was down to the muscle.

At this point no one knew if his people abandoned him or if he, in his
fright, would not return to them for he became a "stray." A scab formed over
the injury which was a good thing. This took a long time though because of
the size of it. Unfortunately the scab came/fell/was ripped off. Another
scab formed and a massive, truly massive, infection set in under it. The cat's
head was misshaped and his shoulder and surrounding area swollen to terrible
proportions and shapes. At this point most of the neighbors had talked to
their vets and were told to shoo him away, keep him away from the family
cats for fear of disease. The scab fell off and the abscess drained. My
husband, David, our roommate, Larry and I tried for weeks to trap Four to
take him to the vet but he was too wily to be trapped.

By now two years had passed since that magnificent cat came to our
neighborhood. He would disappear and reappear. He was now, emaciated,
frightened, unwanted. I started feeding him. It took months to gain his
confidence. Up until 10 days ago he was coming into my porch every day for
breakfast and occasionally returning for dinner. He has been in the house,
the bedroom, living room and office and very comfortable in those rooms. He
is a cat that is used to a house and I believe he wants to live in one. I am
having an issue with my 13 year old, spayed, female, Aggie Marble. When he
comes in she urinates inappropriately. Helen Miles is helping me deal with
this issue.

We live 22 miles from Disney World and some of the houses in this area are
second homes to people from the northern United States who come here during
the winter. Four has stopped coming here and David and I found out Sunday
that he is staying with a Snowbird family who is feeding him and we think
sheltering him. I believe that when he was disappearing that he was being
fed by these families and he would reappear when they left to return to
their Northern homes.

He is an incredible cat; when you think of all that he has endured over
three years as far as how he used to live and then had to live, the physical
problems he's gone through, the trust issues his kitty brain has had to sort
out. The wound has not healed, it is still open although smaller than it was
originally was. He deserves much better than what he has now and I hope with
all my heart I can see that he gets it.

Four returned here two days ago for his meals. Helen Miles has been a huge
help to me. Please think Positive Vibes as we implement a plan to get Four
trapped and to the vet within a week.  One of the times when he is eating I
will close the inside/outside door so that he is confined to the large
safe-for-him porch.  A Have -a-Hart trap will be in place. I will feed him
for four days in the trap. On the fifth day I will rig the trap to close
when he is in it and whisk Four away to our fantastically wonderful and most
understanding vet, Dr. Mulero.  Hopefully Four's injury can be taken care of
with a minimum of discomfort/pain to him and a through exam will show him to
be healthy. The injury may be difficult to deal with and a stay at the vets
for a couple of days is a possibility. If we are able to get him vet care a
relative has told me that he will help pay some of the vet bill as that may
be a problem, I'm thankful for that, but I am worrying about the cost of the
rest. Still, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it - first we have to
get Four and get him treated.

Major, major Purrs and Prayers are requested for Four's successful capture
and that his vet exam shows him to be in basically good health and that his
injury can be treated in a manner that will result in swift healing and no
complications and that we can find him a forever home - either with me if he
is accepted by Aggie Marble, or by some doting slave who can treat him in
the manner he deserves.

Please click on the links below to see the handsome gentleman, Four.
Warning: some of the 3 pictures are graphic. He is such a very handsome
boy!!

www.weltonfamily.net/images/c1.jpg

www.weltonfamily.net/images/c2.jpg

www.weltonfamily.net/images/c3.jpg