Oscar is king of his new castle
Our resident orange kitty, Oscar, adopted us here at Hanaeleh about eight years ago when we moved to the ranch. He has greeted us everyday, letting us know that he is starving to death, even though a volunteer fed him about 15 minutes before.
This past year we have lost all of our other barn kitties, so Oscar has been by himself. He is getting older, and we noticed that he stopped chasing lizards, squirrels and rabbits – so now we have a ton of lizards, squirrels and rabbits! He never was very good at catching mice – we think he had a friendship with them, so that didn’t change. We did additionally notice, however, that instead of going to sleep in the area above the tack shed, he’s been sleeping in a shed that is not as safe. We needed to find him a safe home in which to live.
Luckily, one of our volunteers, Kelley, offered to take Oscar home with her. She has two other kitties and two dogs, but she said she would like to try to acclimate Oscar into being a housecat. She set up an entire room in her house for him, and prepared his bed, litterbox and living area, complete with special scents. We took Oscar to the vet, where he got updated vaccinations and his teeth cleaned, then he went home with Kelley.
Oscar seems to have settled into house life very easily! He had no issues with the dogs, and while he’s not best buds with the other kitties yet, there aren’t any outrageous conflicts. Kelley even put Oscar on a leash and walked him around her backyard so he can get used to the scents out there. She said he was fine on the leash, as long as he got to go wherever he wanted!
We are very happy for Oscar and for his new family. He has been such a special part of our lives, and we will miss him, but we know that he is safe and happy in his new home.