MAINE COON CATS: ELVIS, THE STRAY MAINE COON

Elvis was not always a stray cat. About two winters ago, his people moved from our neighborhood, but they left Elvis here, homeless. We all knew Elvis by name, and knew his breed. My sister and I were not close friends of the people who left him; we don't know why they left their canine family member to fend for himself. Elvis was roaming our country neighborhood, hunting in order to eat.

Sometimes Elvis would eat my cat's food, or share my sister's cat's food. My sister and brother in law live across the street from me, and we both have cats, so we were willing to share, but sometimes Fluffy, and Pete, his now deceased brother, would run Elvis off. Cats can be territorial, and Fluffy and Pete didn't take well to another cat hanging out at my place. When a male neighbor who was a confirmed cat hater, told my sister he was going to kill Elvis, I thought it was time to step in.

Elvis had never been neutered, and at that time I bred Himalayan Persians, so I knew he'd have to be altered if he was going to live with me. He was friendly enough, but seemed to fear strangers somewhat, possibly due to abuse by our cat hating neighbor, and would not allow me to bring him inside. I finally trapped him by use of food, and a small kennel, but that created new challenges. Elvis had always been an outside cat, and didn't know how to use a little box.

TEACHING ELVIS HOW TO USE A LITTER BOX

I knew how to teach Elvis to use a litter box. Most cats are easy to train, once they know what they are supposed to do. Elvis didn't know what the litter box was, so it was my job to teach him. First I scooped some cat poop from Ms. Frances' litter box, and put it in the one I wanted Elvis to use. I put the box in a huge cat cage in my living room, and put Elvis in it so he would have nowhere else to consider doing his business. Within a few days, Elvis knew what a litter box was for, and had grown accustomed to using one. At that point, I took both Elvis and the litter box out of the cat cage, and he continued to use it with no problem.

GETTING MY OTHER CATS ACCUSTOMED TO ELVIS BEING IN THE HOME

Having Fluffy, Pete, Ms. Frances, and Sir Cedric accept Elvis as a family member was somewhat trickier. I decided to keep him separate until my other cats became familiar with his scent, and shut him off in the living room, but Elvis had a mind of his own. Luckily for me, I am not a fancy pants when it comes to my house, because Elvis actually created a pet door from my living room to my den. He managed to scratch, chew, or eat a hole through the door separating him from the rest of us, so that project did not work exactly as planned. Still, my other cats accepted Elvis fairly well as long as they were all inside. Fluffy and Pete would still run him off in an outside environment, but allowed his presence inside without starting a fight.

ELVIS GETS FIXED

Paradox Spay/Neuter agreed to neuter Elvis for free, seeing that he was a rescued cat and I had limited funds. His appointment was set, he was fixed, and also received his vaccinations at no charge to me. Once he had an official owner, our cat hating neighbor decided to leave well enough alone, and Elvis is still alive and healthy today. He prefers being an inside/outside cat, and still shares my home as well as my sister's, whose outside cats are nicer to him. Pete died last year, so Fluffy stays inside more often, though at times he still longs for the great outdoors, and runs free to hunt and do outside cat pursuits during the day. He likes to curl up beside me in bed at night. As for Elvis, he now has two homes and two food sources, and is still a Maine Coon, but no longer a stray.