Maxx

One evening a knock sounded at our door. When I went to answer it, my neighbor from across the street was standing on my porch. A black cat with white markings accompanied him and he asked if I knew whose cat it was. I opened the screen door to get a better look at him and he proceeded to walk right into my home. He took one look at our dog, Murphy, and seemed to decide that he could deal with living in a house with a dog in it.

We put an ad in the paper to see if we could find his owner. He had been neutered and seemed to have been well taken care of, so we figured someone out there was looking for him. Right away he began getting closer and closer to me as I'd sit on the sofa and read. Then came the day when he climbed up into my lap, nuzzled my neck and laid down to rest on my lap as I read.

He was my cat!

We only had two calls from the ads we had put up and in the newspaper. Both time, I held my breath until they told me something that made me sure he wasn't their cat. I would have given him back to a family who was looking for him, but thankfully, no one was.

My hubby named him Maxx and he became a part of the family. There was an easy friendship between Maxx and Murphy, neither seeming to be uncomfortable with the other. They both tended to sleep either on the sofa or on my youngest son's bed. We taught Maxx to use the doggy door to go outside to do his business. He would wander a bit, but always come home.

One time, he was in a lot of pain and my sweet hubby took him to the vet. He had broken his hind leg at the top and they had to operate on it to remove the fragments of bone. He eventually healed although I had to keep him in the house for 6 weeks until he was able to walk again. He was so sweet and just wanted to be loved often. Even Murphy was sad to see him so infirmed.

This is Maxx's picture from a few weeks ago.

Most of his pictures are packed away in storage until our house is built but I will add pictures as they are developed. At that time, Maxx will have 5 acres to roam. Guess I'll have to warn all the small critters to hide!

Max really enjoys my new roll top computer desk. He has found just the right spot on the top of it.

That isn't the end of Maxx's story.

In October of 2001, we got news that my sweet hubby, Phil, was being transferred to Knoxville, Tennessee, something we had wanted for a very long time. We only had 2 weeks to pack up and be in Knoxville for him to work. We worked quickly and had the mover come in the day before we left. My sweet hubby and his friend stayed on pallets on the floor of the empty house until we would leave the next morning. I stayed with my best friend since it would be quite a while until I saw her and her girls again.

We removed the doggy door panel from the sliding glass door so that Maxx wouldn't leave before we had to depart. Unfortunately, my hubby forgot to tell his buddy not to let the cat out. He got up around 5 am and played a bit with Maxx and then let him out of the house. When I got over there, they were both searching frantically for Maxx. We waited for over 2 hours, until we were just not able to wait anymore. We had to leave Maxx there. The hardest part was the fact that I had just put my sweet Murphy-dog down and now I had lost my Maxx-e-cat. I cried most of the day. I called my friends in the neighborhood once we got into our new apartment and they said they would watch out for him.

Well...my friends said they kept seeing him around the neighborhood, but they were unable to catch him. He kept running. I had one friend put a bit of cat food out for him, but after that, no one really fed him. He had a collar and tags so I'm sure no one would feed him. He had to live off the land for two months.

In December, my youngest son, Scott, was in South Florida visiting friends. He was to fly to meet me in Atlanta and we would fly to Phoenix, Arizona, for his brother, Brian's, college graduation. Well...at 4 am when our friends were taking Scott to the airport, he convinced them to stop by our old house, which still hadn't been sold, and he would look around for Maxx. He called Maxx's name and a very skinny Maxx came right to Scott. When Scott got to the airport, he had to buy a carrier for Maxx, which depleted him of his money. Delta Airlines also wanted $125 for putting Maxx on the plane, but since Scott had spent all his money on the carrier, they allowed Maxx to fly for free.

Imagine my shock when I met Scott at the airport in Atlanta, having flown there from Knoxville, and he told me that Maxx was traveling with us! I was thrilled! When I finally saw him, he was so much skinnier than I ever remembered him. He was so happy to see us!

Maxx has gotten used to his new home and loves to hunt in the woods behind our apartment. Our porch opens up to these woods. He has been a happy hunter, having bagged two birds (one of which I got out of the house before he was destroyed), several mice, and a chipmunk. He is quite the fearless hunter.

However, he no longer roams very far from home, or for very long! He has gained the weight he lost and then some! He is now 18 pounds but not too fat. He is very tall and long and has a bit of a panther's look to his face and nose. He gets along well with Annabelle, but doesn't want me to know that. Whenever I walk into a room that they were playing in together, they both look guilty and move away from each other. I even caught Maxx laying on the floor with Annabelle and hugging her. Of course, when I walked into the room, he got up!

These guys remind me of Garfield and Odie!

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