The Tao of Bob

Cats have reputations as mysterious creatures with mercurial whims.

They are often seen as the independent, take-me-as-I-am-or-leave-me-alone rebel of the domestic animal world. They were worshipped as gods by ancient Egyptians (cat owners joke that the feline has never forgotten this) and further legends state that they are filled with curiosity and can afford to take risks, because, unlike the rest of us mere mortals, they have nine lives.

In our modern world the reality is that cats who are abandoned or are born feral live a life that is fraught with danger and most do not enjoy a normal life-span. They are at the mercy of weather, traffic, starvation, disease, other animals and people who might wish to do them harm. If cats do indeed have nine lives, it may be because they need them.

Bob is a modern cat. Once abandoned and severely injured, he had no future to speak of. He’s now a robust 13 pound roly-poly ball of black and white fur. Gold eyes peer at you from above a nose that looks like it was dipped in ink. Bob has a friendly interest in the world despite the fact that the world hasn’t always been kind to him. 

He was living on the streets when he ended up in a safe trap that was set by a woman looking to catch a feral kitten she hoped to help as part of LifeLine Animal Project’s Catlanta program. LifeLine supplies tools, instruction and support to people who trap feral cats. This program, once the first of its kind in Georgia, has helped create a network of care for feral and stray cats in the Atlanta area.  

When she checked her trap the next morning, she found a hurt, hungry adult cat whose throat had been sliced from ear to ear. The precision of the cut looked like someone had tried to kill him. The wound, while it wasn’t fresh, wasn’t healing.

Thus began the almost year long rehab of the black and white “no name” cat, soon dubbed Bob. After many months of care his neck laceration was considerably better but still not closed so the vets at LifeLine enlisted a specialist at St. Francis Veterinary who closed the wound completely with a combination of mesh and skin grafts.  There are animals for which this would have been pretty much the end of their wanting to associate with the human race, but not Bob.

“Throughout the painful process he was mostly very patient and very sweet,” reports Mickie Blair, LifeLine’s field coordinator and resident cat expert. “This is an all-around amazing cat.”

Bob is neutered, has all his shots and is waiting for a home but people often pass him over because he’s tested FIV+, which means he has the feline leukemia virus. He’s asymptomatic and shows no signs of illness  yet this thorn scares potential adopters who don’t know much about the disease. Cats with FIV are adoptable cats to the right households.

Feline leukemia only affects cats -- it cannot be transmitted to people, dogs, or other animals. WebMD informs that about 70 percent of cats who encounter the virus are able to resist infection or eliminate the virus on their own.  Older cats are less likely to get it, as resistance seems to increase with age. For indoor-only cats, the risk is very low and most owners get their cats a preventative shot.

Cat to cat transmission often happens during fights, which can be common in feral communities when the animals are not spayed or neutered and are jockeying for food, territory or dominance.

Bob is a lover, not a fighter. He happily shares the administrative office at LifeLine with four non- FIV-infected cats.  To sit down in this office means to have Bob welcome you and examine you closely. He may sit at your feet. He may want to borrow your lap for a while.

He’s so friendly that “he’ll follow you around like a puppy,” says Blair, “He’s great with other cats, loves dogs. He’s very affectionate and healthy. He could easily live into his teens.”

This friendly and forgiving feline had a hard knock life when he was an orphan. But for the kindness of compassionate cat lovers, he wouldn’t be here now.  If you want a true companion cat in your life, Bob would fill the role nicely.

To be Bob’s forever family, fill out an application at www.atlantapets.org.  If you want to know more about Bob or any adoptable LifeLine cat or information on FIV+ cats and  what kind of cat would be the best match for your household, e-mail Mickie Blair at mblair@atlantapets.org.