He is the sweetest cat! He’s an orange tabby (ginger) and he resides (most of the time) in our garage. I would love to have him in our house but that is not possible right now.
Why you might ask? Well, we already have 5 indoor only cats and we are not sure if he (Buddy) suffers from FIV (feline immunodeficiency virus). Vets call it the fighting disease. I was told by my vet that it would not be good to have him indoors with our other cats because, since he is an outdoor cat, he may want to pick a fight with one or more of my indoor cats and then they’d get the disease.
So Buddy has a nice place in our garage. He is much safer and warmer (now that winter is upon us here in Ohio) then he was last year, when he was outside 24/7/365!
Last year, I was somewhat successful coaxing him into an outdoor shelter I made out of a plastic storage bin. I packed it with that shiny keeps-you-warm tinfoil stuff, some old blankets and an old towel. But he didn’t always stay in there and the temps dipped into the low single digits at times! Talk about a hearty cat!
Here is Buddy in the cat shelter box I made for him
I believe in the power of prayer. There is a reason why I said that. It has to do with my friend, Buddy. I was wanting (and praying for) since last year, to buy or find a door, to replace the back garage door, that I could put a cat door on, so Buddy could come and go into our garage as he pleases in the winter. I needed a replacement door because at this time, my wife and I rent and I cannot alter the landlord’s door, obviously.
So I usually walk a few times a week around my neighborhood. One day, I decided to alter my usual route as I made my way back home. Low and behold, I looked down and on the sidewalk and near the curb, waiting to be picked up with the garbage, was a garage back door with a dog door! So I grabbed it right away and took it home. Turns out, it was an exact replacement for the existing door in the garage. It was a pre-hung door. So I didn’t have to trim it, nor move the hinges, or anything but install the new cat door in place of the dog door, which was too large.
Here is the door I found and customized with a new cat door!
Now Buddy can come and go as he pleases! This was truly answered prayer!
Recently, I discovered Buddy has been making himself at home in our garage. That is so great. He, like all cats, likes to survey his surroundings from a high spot.
So, I thought maybe I should look for a used cat tree for him. I found one in FB Marketplace that someone was selling not far from where we live and I picked it up last night!
Guess what? Buddy jumped on it almost immediately after I placed it in the garage for him! I was really happy to see this!
Buddy sometimes hops on the window sill to visit with one of our indoor cats. Here he is with Carver, our big 6+ year old Mackerel tabby (who loves to eat (more than he should sometimes)! 
Well I hope you enjoyed my story about Buddy. I will probably occasionally have more cat stories, but I promise I won’t overdo it!
Please do leave a comment below and even tell us about your cats, if you’d like, if you have one, that is!
