Barry White Update Part 2

This afternoon I was outside watering some plants when a woman drove up in her car and got out. I figured she was one of my local eBay customers come to pick up some Fisher Price Little People but she said that she wanted to talk to me about Jasper.

Turns out the cat that is Barry White to me is Jasper to the woman who lives on the next block.

This woman had been talking to some neighbors who have been feeding Barry White for several years and have recently sold their house. When she inquired what was going to happen to the stray cat they said that they knew that I had been feeding him recently as well.

I learned a little more history about him...he used to belong to people who lived a few houses down my street and was left behind many years ago when they moved. Since then he has been on his own, beg, borrowing and stealing from kind hearted folks in the neighborhood. It is so absolutely amazing he has survived this long.

Anyhow, this woman has fed him on and off for years as well and just wanted to touch base with me to make sure that he is going to be taken care of. I told her that I intended on catching him and taking him to the vet to be treated for his upper respiratory infection and that I intend on caring for him. She offered to let me borrow a trap that she has to catch him and left me with her name and phone number.

This morning I looked out my bedroom window and saw him sleeping in the bushes in my backyard and was so sorry he wasn't able to curl up on the bed with me and the other critters. Knowing that he once had a family to call home and was eventually just abandoned is so sad. But now I'm hopeful that maybe one day I'll actually be able to befriend him even more and remind him how wonderful it can be to have a person who cares for you.