One-Eyed Willie Success Story
One day while feeding the paw syndicate, a new cat arrived and we called him One-Eyed Willie. This can was black and white, had a damaged eye and looked like he has a rough life. At first the cats were scared of him and would run away when he would try to join them. After a while, Baby was the first to be brave enough and ate with him. When everyone else saw that he wasn’t a threat, they welcomed him into the crew.
One-Eyed Willie would come by as often as he would like. This means one day we would see him and then for a couple days or even a week, nothing. When we were trapping the cats to have them fixed at TARA, he was not around. The two ladies that were helping me trap them came to return two of the cats and saw him. They asked who he was and I said that’s Willie and that he comes around once in a while. They asked if he was friendly and I said I’m not sure but he let me pet him from the doorway, just like the other cats did. One of the ladies decided to get closer to him and then quickly grabbed him. I was amazed at her bravery and quick thinking. He moved around a little but calmed down quickly. They placed him in a carrier they had in the car. I still couldn’t believe that we got him that easily and didn’t need to use a trap.
One-Eyed Willie or Jack
Over the next few days they messaged me to let me know that One-Eyed Willie was renamed One-Eyed Jack. He was a “sweetheart” according to the ladies and he was getting some extra love. He had a lot of teeth that needed to be removed and his eye was drained and removed. And they did all this out of their own pockets! I was completely overwhelmed and thankful for their generosity and kindness.
A few weeks later they send me even better news, our one-eyed friend was adopted! December 11, 2018 was the best day ever! Out of all the cats that I trapped, at that time it was nine, only he was considered friendly. I couldn’t believe it but I was ecstatic for One-Eyed Willie! He was my first success story, and maybe the only one.
I have trapped two other cats, one went on his happy way after getting neutered and one did not survive. He was too hurt, had almost all of his legs broken and according to the vet was an older cat. He had seen better days and they recommended to put him down. While I only knew this cat for a few days trying to trap him, it still broke my heart. I cried like a baby and took him home with us. We created a beautiful box for him and water proofed it like you wouldn’t believe. We named him Bobby and laid him to rest in our yard. Every day we pass by the driveway, we greet him and hope to do so for the rest of our lives.