Not much to report owner wise I'm afraid. I put up posters but haven't been contacted. Unfortunately a lot of them were deliberately vandalised - I assume by local teenagers with nothing better to do, but there are still a few up. He's on a lot of different websites, but nothing so far, apart from one but it turned out not to be the same cat
I contacted Cat's Protection about having him neutered and it seems like they will help with this, but I am not sure whether it's too soon to do this or not in case the owner comes forward? What do you think?
Charlie has now stopped leaving the house completely. He's possibly the strangest/quietest cat I've ever come across apart from my very first one who spent most of her days hiding under my bed (she was a stray). I'll try and explain what I mean, but there's a few really strange things about him that just don't add up;
He just stopped leaving the house. I was worried he was going to start messing indoors as he hadn't been out for over 24 hours so I put down the old litter tray my other cat stopped using when he started going outside. He eventually used it. But for an uneutered male? His urine doesn't smell in the slightest! Even after the cat I have now, Simba, was neutered, his urine smelled stronger than Charlie's, which is completely odourless. Being that he's so tiny as well (the picture doesn't show it very well) I assume he's maybe really really young? Would a cat that young be going off looking for females as the nurse suggested?
There's more though - he's so...blank :/ He has started following me around a lot now, whereas initially he was just sitting in one space the whole time or sleeping (he still sleeps a LOT), but he mostly just sits next to me staring vacantly into space. My husband keeps remarking on it. My mother who visited remarked on it. My husband suggested brain damage whereas my mum suggested neglect. I can't even describe it very well, but it IS odd.
I tried playing with him a couple of times with Simba's toys/string and he just looked blank. It's like he didn't know what to do with them. Most cat's I know, even one of my old strays, would chase string when it was moved. The only time he showed much sign of life was when he was growling at Simba, or when I put food down for him. Other than that, he's clingy, but blank!
Having said that, there was a couple of breakthroughs. Simba was quite scared of Charlie (despite being twice his size). Charlie would often growl at Simba if he came close, and then Simba would hiss and run out. But yesterday they both sat on my bed at the same time without any aggression, and they also sat in the hall together "chatting" - ie not growling, but making little noises (not aggressive ones lol)
And then he suddenly responded to a younger relative, who is notoriously great with getting animals to respond to him (he taught my mum's dog agility for example). He got him chasing a ball. He has since started playing "fetch" with my husband and actually responding/running. But it's only been 1 day.
He has really puzzled me, I wish I knew his story.
