Meet Bunchy

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Bunchy is one of the most unique and amazing cats we have ever met

Over the years we have had several cats and even some dogs wander into our yard. We always try to help any strays we encounter. The cats may only be around briefly a few days perhaps. Some stick around for longer, while others will try to make part of our yard their home. We always offer water and food when possible. Depending on the circumstances and the personality, age, and condition of the cat we often try to do more.

Some cats we can use a live trap and catch them. There are cats out there that are too clever to be trapped. If we can catch them we will see if they are a possibility for adoption or for us to bring in and keep.

We first met Bunchy in this manner. He was young about one year of age we estimated. He had an issue with an eye and a rear leg. Both ailments seemed to be old or from birth. It took quite awhile to really get a look at him because he was the most skittish cat we have ever seen. If he was eating cat kibble and happened to glance up and make eye contact with anyone through a window he would immediately dart off and disappear.

Over a few weeks my wife was able to get a feel for his routine. We like to offer cats wet food or even meat baby food for extra quality calories and perhaps sneak in supplements or medicine if needed. In order to do this we had to put that type of food out for just awhile before it would draw other neighborhood cats, birds, or swarms of ants. This is not easy to do when the cat your trying to feed is super skittish.

One time my wife timed it well and was able to get Bunchy some canned food. WOW! He loved it. At the flip of a switch he suddenly became SUPER friendly and would even let her pet him. Within a very short time Bunchy went from the most skittish we’d ever seen to the most friendly we’d ever seen. His right eye was a bit cloudy and his right rear leg seemed to have some kind of neurological issue. He could move around fine, but was not able to really run very fast or jump very well.

He was very handsome with a large head, big chest and large front legs. He was a striking brown and black tiger tabby with white on his paws and up his chest. Bunchy looked like he was a cat bodybuilder until you saw his back half which was scrawny and quite underdeveloped. It was apparent that he used is front half to compensate for his weaker back half.

Very soon he decided he wanted to come in the house to visit. Keep in mind we usually have to live trap strays with mixed results. We had been able to “trick” a stray to just walk in the door once and it took several attempts over several weeks to finally succeed. This guy was just hanging at the patio door wanting to come in. We had been observing Bunchy for awhile now and he did not appear to be ill. Just to be safe we started letting him in our bedroom/wife’s office alone with all of our other pets shut out.

Bunchy took to being inside right away. It was pretty clear he had been inside someone’s home at least briefly in the past. In the meantime, there was a very large, male, stray cat that had showed up and he was bullying a couple of our more permanent strays and Bunchy too. We were concerned that Bunchy would be overmatched and injured due to his eye and leg. We had noticed that Bunchy was really adept at hiding and staying off the radar of any intruders that might show up. He seemed exceptionally intelligent.

My wife and I decided to get him neutered, checked out, and tested so we could just bring him in. My wife was initially thinking we would try to find him a good home, but I told her he had some health issues and may not get treated well later on. I suggested we get him fixed and introduce him to our pets and see how it went before we made any decisions.

Bunchy got fixed and came back. He actually started out by sleeping with us at night in our room with just the dogs. He had already made friends with our dogs whenever they went outside and he was around. This was also very uncommon. Although our dogs are great with all of our cats inside they will chase after any outside cats they encounter in the yard. For some reason they never did chase Bunchy. There have been very few cats that slept with us. Cats are nocturnal after all. Bunchy took to it immediately. No issues or hiccups whatsoever. Amazing!

Bunchy was introduced to the house and rest of the family in record time. His strategy was simple walk up to one of our cats and just stand right in front of them. He never showed any fear. Our cats just looked at his chiseled physique and said ok dude no problem. It was stunning to watch this happen over and over again. It usually takes us several weeks to introduce a new cat to our household. It took Bunchy about two days.

Things were going amazing. Bunchy proved to be super special and very smart. He slept with us in our bed every night without incident. Over all the years and all the cats we have only had a couple that slept in our bed all night. He really liked when I would show him videos of cats, birds, and bugs on our ipad. He always started out laying between us at night while we read with his head on my pillow. We were having so much fun with our new special little friend.

It was apparent that Bunchy was looking for safety, food, water, a loving home and friends. Lots and lots of friends. I swear I probably have at least one picture of him hanging around with every single pet we have.

After about 6 weeks Bunchy got very sick very fast. We rushed him to our vet right away. After doing tests they told us Bunchy had FEV, Felv, and a pretty fast resting heart rate. We were stunned. How was this possible? When my wife took him in to get neutered, it was a new spay/neuter clinic. Later that day I picked him up. We both thought the vet had tested him like they usually do, but apparently that was not done after all. Now we were concerned about all of our other cats being exposed as well as what to do about Bunchy.

We got Bunchy on meds and had to just keep him eating and drinking until the meds kicked in. It worked. We got all of our other cats tested and vaccinated and were very lucky there. The next few months involved a couple more times of Bunchy getting ill and us rushing him to the vet. They were able to get him back on track again and we just had to keep him fed and hydrated. The only little wrinkle during this time was Bunchy had developed diarrhea. This was not a huge deal we had dealt with this problem many time sin the past and had always been able to get it under control.

Unfortunately, despite our best efforts we were not able to ever get that diarrhea under control. We tried meds, diet, supplements, and unconventional treatments. Multiple vets weighed in and offered assistance. Nothing worked. It just slowly but surely got a little worse. His immune system was basically zero, so whatever ailment he had it was too much for him or us to fight off. Bunchy just kept losing weight.

We finally had to let him go before things got too bad. We were devastated. I think we realized that with all his health issues we were not going to have 10-15 years with him. Our goal was to love and enjoy him as long as we could. I was hoping for a couple of years maybe a little more, but it ended being about 9 months total from when we first brought him in.

Since we knew our time was going to be short we spoiled him rotten and just loved on him all the time. It was like he knew his time was short too and that’s why he pushed so hard to get in the house and get along with everyone so he could enjoy a safe, loving home before his time was up.

He never was really big on playing or territory. Bunchy just loved cuddling, napping, eating, and being safe and loved. The perfect couch potato

I had never seen a cat like Bunchy. In retrospect if the vet had tested him and told what was all wrong with him we probably would have just had him euthanized for his own good. Even the vets at our clinic said they had never seen a cat with all those major health issues still living. They all loved him at the vet clinic too since he was there so much. We were very lucky to have had him in our lives. We would have done anything to give him more time.

If we had not taken him in and loved him and helped him he would probably have passed out there somewhere in pain and all alone. I will always cherish the memories and be so very grateful that my wife and I were able to give Bunchy that safe, fun, loving home and all the food and cuddles he could handle.

He is why we help ANY cat or dog that we encounter. They ALL deserve a loving and safe home. And every once in awhile we come across somebody extra special like Bunchy.