Oreo

Oreo was a great cat. We enjoyed having him around.  As can be seen from pictures, Oreo did have occasional disagreements with other cats or animals.  We figured out that it was in his nature to look for trouble.  There were several times that Oreo would show up injured after a fight.  He ended up having to go to the vet and get cleaned up and drains put in to help the wounds heal.  He was supposed to stay in the house for the first few days and it killed him.  He would look out of the windows longingly.  He really had a hard time staying indoors.

Oreo in the old house at Coral Harbor.

In the new house Oreo loved all that there was to hunt.   He wanted to stay out at night going after all the wildlife.  He would leave early evening and stay out all night until the morning.  Like clockwork he would come jump up the back fence when he heard the car pull in from taking the kids to school. He wanted to come inside and then would stay and sleep all day.  He enjoyed sleeping on the extra bed in Julia's room and Blake's bed.  I would try and keep him indoors at nights, but he would just complain at the back door until we let him out.  This new house is in a rougher neighborhood, at least for cats roaming around at nights.  It borders Government Canyon, a large state natural area with wild hogs, coyotes, and who knows what else.   One Sunday morning in April Oreo did not return from his nightly exploring.  We had already lost a  couple of the feral cats that just stopped showing up for food.  We held out hope for Oreo for a few weeks, some of us a few months, but gradually came to accept that this was a fun, but ultimately too exciting neighborhood for our little cat.