Pretty Good Zeus

 There is a new cat in my house. He's been here about nine days and I've named him Zeus. Why Zeus? I can't wait to tell you. 

I was pulling into my driveway when I noticed Amir involved with an intense face to face discussion with a tabby I hadn't seen before. 

I immediately parked and went into Cat Lady Mode. I squat down and opened my hands in a friendly manner, showing them to be empty. I didn't really expect him to come to me. Stray cats are shy and suspicious of humans.

Not this guy. 

 

I said, "Hello Sweetie." and his intense eye contact said, "Well HELLO baby!" as he marched straight for me and began to grind his face into my hands.

He was confident, fearless...and I felt like I was being seduced. Honestly, he intimidated  me, especially when he nearly knocked me down in an effort to cuddle my knees. 

I've never met a stray cat so immediately affectionate. Then again, I've never met a cat in such desperate need of food. So, so thin.  I took the hint and coaxed him into the yard. Three pods later, he sauntered off. 

And you know he came back the next day. Amir did his best to chase him off, yowling and swatting at the new boy. (And he is definitely a boy, with his tail held high to let those big balls breathe.) Zeus wore an expression of boredom like, "You done yet? Your breath smells like wet food, and I'm hungry."

We've been feeding him since. It only took one more day for him to figure out there was kibble inside. The day after that, he discovered we had several soft places to sleep. As I write this, Zeus and Amir are napping on my bed. They're friends now. (Grendel sleeps in the cat tree, well away from both of them, but you know Grendel...he's chill.)   

Now it's time to have Zeus checked for a microchip. In the absence of a microchip, it will be time for some shots and anything else he might need. We'll need a plan to get him fixed. 

Today we attempted to take Zeus to the vet. We were unsuccessful. For such a skinny cat, he's mighty strong. And oh, was he mad! I let him go, and he sat with his back to me, hissing his absolute displeasure for a solid fifteen seconds. He scares me a little. 

I was worried that I'd damaged his trust in me, but he didn't leave. He went and crashed on my pillow. I'm pretty sure he knows he could've taken me and we don't frighten him one bit. 

But damn it, I love him already. 

So we'll try again. Soon. I just gotta get my courage back up.