My Cat, Buddy…

[Bob Blaylock]

Not really wildlife. Not any more, anyway. I understand him to have been abandoned some time in 2018 [Edit: More recent information from a different person whose knowledge is likely more credible, puts his abandonment as early as 2015 or 2016], and to have lived as a sort of semi-stray around my apartment complex from then, until about a year ago, when he suddenly decided that he's my wife's and my cat. For nearly a year, I'd been describing him as my wife's and my “unofficial second cat”. Just a couple weeks ago, we finally made him official. We got him chipped and registered to us, and put him on our lease. He's officially our cat, now.

He does still insist on being let out for a few hours each day, usually late at night or early in the morning. We're pretty sure that he visits other people, in other apartments. We've put a harness on him, and tags to lead other people to a Facebook group that we've set up for him, hoping thus to get in touch with other people who know him.


So, last night, Buddy was out, roaming, and wondering where he might be, I noticed a cat-shaped silhouette on a wall about sixty feet away, that separates my apartment complex from a shopping center just to our north.

With the stock lens and built-in flash on my Nikon D3200, this was the best picture I could get. Not enough detail to identify the cat, though I did notice something hanging down from the neck that is consistent with a tag that Buddy now wears.

Digging out an ancient Sunpak auto 2000 DZ flash, much more powerful than my camera's built-in flash, I was able to get this. Now I can clearly see that it is an orange cat, wearing a black harness. Not absolutely definitive, but as far as I know, Buddy is the only orange cat nearby that now wears a black harness.

So, I dug out my really, really ancient (as in late 1960s or early 1970s) Vivitar 85-20-5mm ƒ/3.8 zoom lens, and put that on my camera. Nikon, by the way, claims that non-AI lenses cannot be used on any DSLR except their DF model. My D3200, this Vivitar lens, and my two other ancient non-AI Nikkor lenses, very much disagree with Nikon on this point, as I have repeatedly used all three of these lenses on my D3200 with no problem.

Anyway, with that combination—my D3200, my ancient Sunpak flash, and my really really ancient 85-205mm lens—I was able to get this picture. There's some heavy digital enhancement involved, here, and I cropped it in tightly. Alas, the cat himself is really not that well resolved, but now the name is clearly readable on his tag.

 

[Bikerbrent_RIP]

Nice pussy cat, Bob Blaylock!!

 

[Bob Blaylock]

Nice pussy cat, Bob Blaylock!!

By definition, a pussy cat is female. Buddy is a tom cat.

My wife and I do also have a pussy cat, a 12-year-old Siamese, named Allie.

Allie hates her new brother. She's been an only cat nearly all her life, and very much prefers it that way. Buddy wants to be friends with her, tries to play with her in the manner that younger cats do. This always evokes growling and hissing and other hostile behavior from Allie.

 

[Bikerbrent_RIP]

Coordinating to English Language & Usage​

Pussy(cat) vs cat​

What is the difference between a pussy or pussycat and just cat?

According to some soft sources, such as this yahoo answers question the term pussycat is a female cat, complementing the tom cat which is a male cat.

However, I can't find any dictionary that backs these claims, and some other sources even counter the claim as such, saying pussy(cat) is just the same as a cat. A tom cat however seems to be undisputed a male cat.

Multiple dictionaries list pussy(cat) as just plain "cat". Wikipedia mentions pussycat as a "pet domestic cat", but doesn't state any source for that.
Does anyone know the difference between pussy, pussycat, puss and cat?

 

[Bob Blaylock]

I've learned in conversations with neighbors that this cat was not merely left behind, as I'd previously assumed, by a family that moved away and didn't take him with them. He was kicked out of his home, several years ago, by a woman who decided that she no longer wanted a cat. This apparently happened somewhen between 2015 and 2018.

He's a very sweet, loving cat. I just cannot wrap my head around someone having previously had this cat, deciding to toss him out like unwanted garbage. So, it seems that he's spent most of his life—anywhere from 4 to 7 years—living as a stray, until last year, when he settled in with my wife and me.

 

[Needa]

Glad you have taken him in and provided a safe environment.

 

[Clovishound]

I would take issue with one of your statements.

"he suddenly decided that he's my wife's and my cat"

Cats do not have owners. They have staff!