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This page has come about mainly because Jennifer will not let me
photograph her as often as I would like. Since that is the case,
Moses the Traveling Cat, a.k.a Mo, has been the subject of many photos. He is our
bestest buddy and has an interesting story so I've decided to put that
here with the pictures.
 Moses
came to us in the spring of 1998. Jennifer and I were preparing
to move in together. On a Sunday afternoon in May we decided
that we would like to get a kitten once the move was completed in
July. The following Monday morning, Jennifer stepped out the
door on her way to work. As she was getting in the car, she
heard a sound which she described as being "like a baby bird".
It was coming from a pile of leaves near the base of a large Maple
tree in her backyard. She investigated the area to find buried
under this pile of leaves, a tiny solitary crying kitten apparently
abandoned by its mother. Jennifer, fearing of his death, took
him inside and attempted to make him as comfortable as possible.
But being a woman committed to her work, she had to leave him for the
day. She returned to find
him alive, but extremely weak and vulnerable. He was not yet
weaned from his mother and for a couple of weeks Jennifer fed him by
hand using an eyedropper. I wish we had pictures of Moses then
because he was so small and cute, probably not more than 4 inches
long. He completely fit in the palm of your hand. After
the first couple of weeks he became seriously ill. Jennifer had
previously worked at a Vet and took him in for help. The doctor
told Jennifer he had a bad infection and that he would not make it:
He was too young and weak. It was an unfortunate danger of
taking in stray animals and becoming attached to them. They did
give Mo an antibiotic which Jennifer lovingly gave him through an eye
dropper. She was able to nurse him to health.
Nothing extraordinary
happened for the next couple of years, Moses was much like your
average housecat, playing, eating, sleeping and causing trouble.
He is particularly close to the two of us. I imagine that is
because he has only memories of us as parents and little contact with
anyone else.
 He
has always remained solely indoors, and as much as it pained us
- front declawed to protect our home and furniture. In the early
spring of 2000, Moses slipped outside while I was gathering some wood
for the fireplace. Neither Jennifer nor I realized he was
missing until about 4:00am when we heard him pawing and crying at our
sliding glass door. He was visually frustrated and cold (There
was still snow on the ground). It took a few days for him to
warm up to me again. I actually think he blamed me for locking
him out, the audacity of that cat!
 As
travel plans began to take shape, we reluctantly decided not to take
Moses with us. It was the single most difficult decision we had
to make as our departure neared. It was easy selling our house,
furniture, cars and giving away nearly all our possessions. Our
decision was based on the fact that Mo had never traveled well.
He did not like vehicles and cried & lost control whenever he had to
travel. My sister, Denise and her family was happy to take him.
They offered a very good home which was nearby. They had a
female cat "Angel", with whom Moses had already become friends.
It seemed our best choice. So in April of 2001, Moses was
temporary adopted by Denise's family. It took a while to adjust
and we were all pained with the separation. But Moses did seem
to adjust over the next few weeks.
 In
June, some contractors were working in Denise's home. They left
one of the outside doors open... ...Moses and Angel
escaped. Angel remained near the house and was found the next
morning. Moses had disappeared. Jennifer and I were deeply
hurt - he was like a child to us. Unfortunately, we were 1,000
miles away on the coast of Maine. Denise and her husband, Mike
truly did everything they could over the
next few weeks to find him. They combed the area, put out signs,
went from house-to-house to ask neighbors and checked the shelters.
There were sightings of cats that looked like Mo but nothing
substantial that yielded any results. In mid-September long
after I had given up hope of his return, Mike saw a cat nearby that
resembled Moses. They put out food to attract him: and it
worked. Mike was able to trap him after attempting for several
nights. But they weren't convinced it was him. We tried to
describe him over the phone, but couldn't provide any conclusive
visual characteristics. Denise took pictures, and with the help
of my cousin Mark, emailed them to me. It was him! I
couldn't believe it. He was dirty and thin - skin and bones
even, but alive and in good spirits. Jennifer and I rejoiced and
vowed that we would never leave him again.
 Well,
upon our temporary return, Moses became our traveling companion.
He adapted quickly. Within 2-3 days he became comfortable in the
truck. The trailer is home to us all. He stays in hotel
rooms when we travel sometimes (He doesn't get his own room, although
sometimes his own bed). Occasionally at night, when we return
home he bolts out
the door. But he never goes more than several feet before he
plops down on the ground and proceeds to roll around - doesn't matter
if it's a concrete pad, grass, gravel or dirt. They aren't all
listed here, but we count his 9-lives to be somewhere around 3 or 4
now. Much of his experiences and tribulations while spent in the
wild will never be known, but it seems that Moses may be having more
of an adventure than Jennifer and I are! |
