The Scoop on Bennie

Last week was a tease. This week you get the full story about Bennie-the-street-cat and his pal Muffin.

Bennie lives in Washington state, and he is one of many, many cats my friend Kathleen feeds in the dodgier parts of South Seattle. She is a Warrior and deserves a medal.

Kathleen and another Warrior, Morgan, noticed a huge orange kitty at one of the sites they both support. He has long hair, which mats up something fierce because - street cat, who's got time to groom?

Bennie was pretty friendly, for a fellow from the street. Most of them don't want to have anything to do with people, but he would allow Warrior Kathleen to pet him a little bit while he was eating. She had caught him once to get his mats shaved off and to be neutered, and then because there was no place else for him to go, he went back on the street. 

Bennie has a girlfriend named Muffin. She's pretty friendly too, and had also been trapped, spayed and returned.

Bennie and Muffin "on the street." Bennie looks like he has a turtle on his back.

Morgan found a place they could go that would get them off the street. If the cats are friendly and will allow themselves to be caught, many of them can be rehabilitated and go to furever homes. Bennie and Muffin weren't inside-cat material (which is why after they had been trapped previously, they went back to their street home), but the place Morgan found is a manufacturer north of Seattle whose warehouse cats had died and they were looking for some replacements. Perfect! The cats could be independent, have a roof over their head, warm beds and food, and their job would be to keep the mouse population under control, very important work. 

Except Bennie didn't want to be caught. His trust of humans was pretty low. The last time he allowed himself to be caught, he got shaved and his butt hurt for days.

Kathleen talked to me on several occasions about Bennie, and we tried one thing and another. He was adamant he wasn't going anywhere without Muffin. So I suggested to Kathleen that they catch Muffin (an easier task), and then see if Bennie would go along with the program.

Muffin was caught.

Bennie was bereft. Just the sight of a humane trap had him running for cover. That trap was a big trigger for him. No amount of telling him all would be well and he and Muffin would be together again convinced him. All he could remember was a butt that hurt and really short fur.

So Kathleen used a very unorthodox method of capture. 

This is a picture of a FISH net. A regular cat catching net was too small to fit Bennie, so Kathleen bought this one, which is much bigger.

It worked! Bennie was caught and reunited with Muffin. They were very happy to see one another. Score one for the humans in Bennie's mind - they said he would be with Muffin, and he was.

Bennie got shaved. He's recovered nicely.

Before and after (a beautiful lion cut). He's fine, just "under" for the shave.

Right now, they are safe and happy in a holding home, and will soon be making their way to their new home at the warehouse, where they will be confined in an office for a number of weeks to make sure they know where the food, beds and litter boxes are, and then be released into the warehouse to start their new careers.

All the people around them are showing them mental pictures of their new home and how it will be safe and warm. Bennie and Muffin, for their part, are really glad to be off the street and back together. It's a win for everyone.

Not all street cats want a cozy life. They're happy where they are, even though it might look yucky to us humans. Bennie and Muffin wanted something more, so long as it didn't involve being confined to a house.

Kudos to Warriors Kathleen and Morgan for never giving up on these two.