Barn cat.  Outdoor cat.  Mouser cat.  Whatever you want to call it, if you live on an acreage you likely have one or more of these cats.  They tend to come and go and often you don’t know where they’ve disappeared to.  If you’ve had a kitty population-explosion you might even be secretly relieved when one or more disappears.  After you’ve had a few cats vanish you will likely forget some of their names.  But once in a while, a memorable one comes along.  That’s what Mickey turned out to be; our most memorable outdoor cat.  Mickey wasn’t unusually pretty and he didn’t do anything cute or quirky.  He wasn’t even that affectionate.  Heck, I don’t know if he ever caught a mouse.  But he left his mark nonetheless . . . 

Mickey fit right in with the rest of the outdoor cats, he came and he went.  He showed up every morning & every night for breakfast and supper –and then, he didn’t.  No black body on the side of the road, he just was not around any more.  After two weeks, we considered him a goner.  And life went on. 

One afternoon, a black shadow caught my eye.  Mickey was back!  Or was it him?  Something seemed out of place.  Then I saw it.  His tail.  It looked like a dried up skinny piece of beef jerky.  I brought him inside and realized he’d been injured pretty badly.  It looked like something had skinned his tail.  Did a fox try to get him or did he get caught in a trap?  His tail was just a long stick-type appendage.  Inflexible and no fur.  Right next to his rear-end where the tail meets the body was an open wound.  If I could get the wound healed up what would happen to the tail?  Would it fall off or would it stay like that?  Would it (could it?) get infected?   

A call to the vet and my husband was off; though not before the fair warning to the family that we’d likely have to put Mickey down.  There just isn’t any reason to spend a lot of money on a barn cat so putting him down was the most plausible solution.

Later that day, I got a $200 reminder of what a softie guys can be.  He’d not had Mickey put to sleep but instead had given the vet permission to amputate the tail and have him neutered!  When Mickey came home, we had our new tail-less cat.  A quick amputation, some skin-stretching to cover the wound and he was all set.  Same old cat, minus a tail. 

Mickey ran around our place for another year or so and then, sadly, vanished once again.  I’ve not seen Mickey since but I know where he is.  That; however, is a story for another day.  ♥