Ranger [redux]

Denise says: Long before BG wandered into my yard and my life, there was Ranger. Ranger was my first porch kitty. Starving. First met him when getting in my car and I heard strange noises under the hood. Lifted it up and there he was. Scared us both and we ran in opposite directions. Afterwards he was always around my house crying for food. But I couldn't catch him. (I'm a huge fan of long zooms on my cameras -- how I got the outside pics). After about a week of hearing his cries, even in the house, sounding just like he was saying mamma, I bought every kind of smelly human food I could think of. The canned salmon did it… barely.

Once inside he was just fine if somewhat goofy and eating everything he could find. And as usual Ebony took him in and mothered him to death. Yes, My big boy Ebony loves all cats, and despite being male he's always a total mother hen trying to take care of everyone. He let Ranger try and nurse on him, and still to this day though Ranger is much bigger than Ebony he still tries to nurse and Ebony puts up with it. Ranger and BG get along but are not particular buds. There's at least a six-year age difference. For some reason he loves my dog Rufus, a three-year-old rottie mix I adopted that was initially thrilled to have cats to chase. I yelled at him once, and as a formerly abused dog, that was enough that he avoids the cats like crazy even five years later. It's hilarious to see him roll his eyes at me when Ranger rubs up against him. Like he's begging forgiveness still. Never have been fast enough to catch a pic of that though

I think lack of maternal care and nutrition caused some defects in Ranger. When I took him in to be neutered I got a call from the vet saying he only found one testicle… did I want him to look for the other one. Of course. He found it in the thigh portion of one of his back legs. Also dental problems… he has had several teeth just disappear/fall out, which really puzzled my vet. He's not the brainiest cat, but he has matured into sweet and loving, even if he sometimes can't figure how to sit on a lap right and falls off.

Looking through old Ranger pics to get ready for this feature was the best therapy ever. He was the first kitten I'd had in years and years and I took hundreds, maybe thousands of pics. Remember his antics made me smile. He's still a sweet cat, but I forgot what a crazy kitten he was. I need to go put him on my lap now lol… he sort of loses out to the ones that insist on being on my lap.