The "Sexy Surprise" Story

It was an ordinary day. Just got back from the vets. About two years ago this past summer a orange and white cat arrived at our back door. Never had seen it before. Rather large cat that evidently belonged to someone in the neighborhood or who had been deposited in our neighborhood. Looked in the door as we watched TV. When Carol started toward the door to inspect the cat, it took off. Really scared. The next day the cat returned. Carol put some dry cat food in a dish and placed it on our back deck, right outside our rear door. Next morning the food was gone. During the next few weeks the cat returned regularly and emptied the dish at night. Little by little the cat began to appear during the daytime and come to the back door. It was gaining curiosity and was less afraid all the time. We finally named it Creamsicle, largely because of it's color and the fact that I love orange creamsicles. Eventually the cat would let us touch it and we finally determined that it was a female. Last winter, after a huge snowstorm, the cat decided it would love the warmth of the house, so when we opened the door to put out the food, it ran in the house. Finally found her in the basement, scared as can be, under a table. We took the food to her and after placing it on the floor, returned upstairs. She ate the food and decided to investigate the remainder of the house. She finally panicked when she entered the laundry room and couldn't get out the large window in that room. Carol held the rear door open and I coaxed her out of the laundry room and out the door. We didn't want her as a house guest yet, since we had other cats and we had no idea if Creamsicle might be infected with something. At the beginning of this winter, we talked about catching her and taking her to the vet to get her shots and finding out about having her spayed. We put it off and off and finally made an appointment for her at 5:30 PM this evening. Now we had to hope that she would arrive at our back door in time and that we could get her in an animal carrier. Just as Carol was arriving home from work at 4:45, Creamsicle showed up at the back door, looking for something to eat. She usually lays in the sun along the side of our house waiting for the car to come up the drive. I put the food dish inside the door on the carpet and she entered and began eating the food. Carol quickly changed her clothes, I grabbed the carrier from the garage and we approached her. By now she is more familiar with both of us so Carol was able to pick her up and talk to her as I stood the carrier on end and slid it under her. Just as nice as can be Carol lowered her into the carrier, feet first, we closed the wire door and put a large towel over the carrier to keep her calm. No problems at all. The vet knew why we had made the appointment and told us they will be able to handle her. Good luck, I told Carol. The ride to the vet was noisy with Creamsicle very vocal, expressing her displeasure with what we were doing to her. All went well at the vet with the shots. Then when Dr. Nicole started to examine her, she looked at us and said, "I believe she's a he." "How can that be?" we both responded. "She has two holes at the rear!" She told us that she suspected it wasn't a female when she first saw it, since it was so large. 13 pounds to be exact. His one ear had been notched and she told us that meant he had been neutered by either a shelter or a The Humane League. We saw the notch, but figured he had been in a fight. The fact that he had been neutered is why we had a hard time figuring out the cat's sex; if you know what I mean. "Now what do we do?" we asked Dr. Nicole. "Nothing different," was the reply. "The name sound good for a male." So, we left home with a female cat and returned home with a male Creamsicle. After returning home I took the carrier to the back deck and released him where he is most comfortable. Boy did he run. Hope he will give us a second chance and return now that we know he is safe to be around our other cat. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - It's been three days and he just got off Carol's lap, as seen in the photo. Notice the notch on his right ear.