back from the dead

yes, i'm talking about choco. i really figured he was either dead or living with some other family or probably dead. well, yesterday moto snuck out when nobody was looking so we let him play outside for a while. then when it was time for us to leave, i called moto to come inside and just out of habit i called choco's name, too. to my complete surprise i heard choco answer my call with his distinctive meow. for a mintue i thought it may have been moto, but he hardly ever meows and he's never done it when i called his name like that. sure enough, over in my mom's garden, i see a black cat with a white patch on his chest meowing at me. i immediately went over and sure enough it was choco. i couldn't believe it. i haven't seen that cat in many weeks. i think the last time i saw him was sometime in june. he looked pretty good, fat with a thick coat. his ears looked a little chewed up but otherwise he was in good shape. i petted him, gave him some whiskas and water. moto came around because i has said the magic word, but as soon as he saw choco, he hissed and ran away. i guess they had a falling out. they don't seem to liek each other at all anymore. so johnny and i went to petco (which is having a store closing clearance) and i got choco a reflective orange collar and an i.d. tag. we also got new collars for the dogs and some fancy cat and dog food.

so now the dilemna is what to do with choco. he is no longer a housecat. he is wild. living off of squirrels and birds probably. i can't really leave food out for him because that attracts rats, possums, and 'coons. i want to feed him, though. he wont come inside and even if he did, he would fight with moto and generally raise hell because the dogs will go nuts with another cat in the house. but i also don't want to leave him out all winter. i don't know what to do. for now, he can stay out, i'll feed him and he has i.d. so hopefully he will be ok - he's survived this long. i can only imagine what he's been through.

last night was really chilly and the dogs were shivering a bit so i decided to break out an extra blanket for them and they all piled onto the futon and curled up while i tucked them in. it was so damn cute i had to take pictures.