Our neighborhood has been home to a feral cat population which we have systematically trapped, neutered and returned. Over time attrition will deal with the situation with no interference from the people in the neighborhood. This is the currently recommended process. Several of us provide food and water and in return the neighborhood is rodent free.

Then you have the unusual situation which arises. A yellow tabby was abandoned a few months ago and found his way to our front porch. He was in rough shape from several fights and other things that as a clearly domestic house cat he was unprepared for. The wife nursed him as best you can an outdoor cat and we started him on canned food to build him back up. He was one of the most loving and passive cats I have ever seen, he just wanted to be petted and acknowledged. The wife had named him Fred after an old comedy routine about a character named Freddie the Freeloader.

Sorry Fred.

After much discussion we decided it was time to give Fred the home he deserves. Yesterday he went to the vet for a checkup and surgery to neuter him, came away with an amazingly clean bill of health according to the vet. Tomorrow he comes to his new forever home, so everyone meet Fred, my new therapy cat.