[luftfluss]

That oversize head and cheeks are typical for un-neutered tomcats, so I imagine he's more than a year or so old. Very handsome fellow! Kudos to your brother's girlfriend for giving him a fur-ever home! That funny stripe is very distinctive.

When I volunteered at an animal shelter we did encounter unneutered males, of course, and they often did have wider heads than the neutered boys, but Mo Cheeks really takes the cake My brother's girlfriend was told Mo was 4 years old, but when he gets to the vet we might have a better estimate of his age.

[OrchidJulie]

When I volunteered at an animal shelter we did encounter unneutered males, of course, and they often did have wider heads than the neutered boys, but Mo Cheeks really takes the cake .

Yes, he does! Most handsome dude!
Funny story about neutered cats...we have a very elderly Cuban neighbor (he'll be 96 next week) who loves cats, feeds a couple on his porch. A couple of months ago he called me in a panic, what to do?! One of those cats was getting very broad in the beam, he was convinced the cat was pregnant, he couldn't deal with kittens! I told him, you have two choices...you can trap her (let us trap her, of course) and take her to Animal Services for a spay, or you can let her give birth. "oh no, I don't want kittens!" OK, we'll trap her for you. "but what will happen to the kittens?!" Well, I don't like this part any more than you do, but the kittens will be euthanized. Eventually he agreed to let us trap the cat, we agreed on a day and time. We prepared a trap, went over there at oh-dark-thirty one morning, had no trouble, wham, cat in the trap. All in the predawn dark. Not much fuss, covered the trap, drove to animal services, transferred the cat for TNR and came home. Next day, drove back to retrieve the cat, when I went in the officer showed me their paperwork..."already neutered". Not pregnant, just a neutered fat boy! We had a devil of a time explaining this to the gentleman (he's a little deaf and not entirely lucid at the best of times), he kept asking "what about the kittens?!" Buddy (that's his name), there never were any kittens, your fatty-catty is not female, wasn't pregnant...we suggest giving him a new name. He had been calling "her" by a feminine name, I recommended he change it to "Gordo", which is Spanish for "fat"

[WPRESTO]

Yes, he does! Most handsome dude!
Funny story about neutered cats...we have a very elderly Cuban neighbor (he'll be 96 next week) who loves cats, feeds a couple on his porch. A couple of months ago he called me in a panic, what to do?! One of those cats was getting very broad in the beam, he was convinced the cat was pregnant, he couldn't deal with kittens! I told him, you have two choices...you can trap her (let us trap her, of course) and take her to Animal Services for a spay, or you can let her give birth. "oh no, I don't want kittens!" OK, we'll trap her for you. "but what will happen to the kittens?!" Well, I don't like this part any more than you do, but the kittens will be euthanized. Eventually he agreed to let us trap the cat, we agreed on a day and time. We prepared a trap, went over there at oh-dark-thirty one morning, had no trouble, wham, cat in the trap. All in the predawn dark. Not much fuss, covered the trap, drove to animal services, transferred the cat for TNR and came home. Next day, drove back to retrieve the cat, when I went in the officer showed me their paperwork..."already neutered". Not pregnant, just a neutered fat boy! We had a devil of a time explaining this to the gentleman (he's a little deaf and not entirely lucid at the best of times), he kept asking "what about the kittens?!" Buddy (that's his name), there never were any kittens, your fatty-catty is not female, wasn't pregnant...we suggest giving him a new name. He had been calling "her" by a feminine name, I recommended he change it to "Gordo", which is Spanish for "fat"

Gato gordo? Sounds good to me.

[OrchidJulie]

Gato gordo? Sounds good to me.

<haha> Yes, Gato Gordo, works for me, too. Many, many years ago we had an outside cat we called "Gordo", he was a chubby little guy. No longer with us, alas.
Now of course we know how to tell the boys from the girls, but before Buddy called me, we had never laid eyes on this "pregnant" cat. "She" lived in his yard, showed up on the porch at mealtime, and was wary of strangers so we never saw "her". When we set up the trap appointment I asked what the cat looked like and never got a straight answer (typical of conversations with this gentleman), but his adult son did make an attempt to take a phone snap and email it to R (Mr. Orchid). Didn't really tell us much, back of the head of a largish brown tabby cat. And we set up the trap, and caught the cat, more or less in the dark.* Just a dim porchlight to keep us from stumbling on the steps. So I never got a real look at the cat, before or after trapping it. I just confirmed that it was a large tabby in the trap before we covered it, no glance at its hind parts. The odd part of the story is that the cat did not have a tipped ear, so he was neutered privately, IOW not a stray at that time. If I had seen a tipped ear I'd have released him immediately. His left ear is tipped now. I don't know what Buddy is calling him nowadays, but he'll be "Gato Gordo" to us for the duration.
* Over a number of years I have done this -- trap cats in the dark -- many, many times. I have a regular routine for it, with the newspaper-lined, set traps in the back of a hatchback car, bait tins and little paper plates to keep the trap somewhat clean, bedsheets ready to cover the traps, the works. I even spritz a little catnip essence on the newspaper and keep a "red dot" toy in my pocket if the bait isn't sufficient lure. I have more than 50 notches on my cat-trapper belt

[jersey]

My old guy

[OrchidJulie]

My old guy

He looks wonderful! Give him a hug a skritch for me!

[luftfluss]

Abigail, with mind-control fully engaged...

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[WPRESTO]

Abigail, with mind-control fully engaged...

For any rodent, two black holes from which there is no escape.

[jgnfld]

Abigail, with mind-control fully engaged...

Good Lord!

[luftfluss]

Good Lord!

I can only hope and pray she never uses her power for evil

[luftfluss]

For any rodent, two black holes from which there is no escape.

The last thing the poor critter would see...

[Shelly]

Four photos of what my Miro does best.... see me coming, decides to run, too late turns over in dispair...

[WPRESTO]

As early as 2015, Annabelle knew how to deal with winter weather

[OrchidJulie]

As early as 2015, Annabelle knew how to deal with winter weather

How not? Cats are heat-seeking missiles...want to know the warmest spot in the house? Look for the cat

[jgnfld]

How not? Cats are heat-seeking missiles...want to know the warmest spot in the house? Look for the cat

One of mine lies down with her feet under one of my old cast iron radiators! Everything gets warm and toasty.