Bear and Sugarbear

The Best Mistake I Ever Made

I lived in a condo next to a highway easement that was a wild mass of weeds, trees and wildlife. The fence next to this expanse of urban open space was a freeway for squirrels hopping from redwood to redwood. One day I noticed a massive, dirty, long-haired cat walking on top of the fence. He had a face the size of a huge grapefruit and almond shaped eyes. Not friendly at all, he ran as soon as opened the door. There were a number of cats in the complex and to keep this poor guy out of trouble I put food out for him in my backyard. After 6 months of watching food disappear, patiently waiting for him to come and gently talking to him, he finally let me sneak a scratch on the ears. The flood gates opened. Within a few weeks he was as friendly as could be, loved to be scratched, slept in a makeshift shelter on the patio and was always on time for breakfast and dinner. By this time I'd named him Bear and taken a picture of him lying on the rug in the house.
While I was concocting my plan to trap him and fix him, he disappeared. I waited a week hoping to see him. No cat. So, I put up notices on the complex bulletin boards for a missing cat. Then, thinking that he might have been picked up by Animal Control, I head off to see if they have a fuzzy old tom cat. Lo and behold, if it wasn't Bear in the infirmary with a nasty abscess on his leg. He was a little thinner than normal and a bit scared but he looked just like his picture. The shelter volunteer looked at the picture and confirmed, yep, that's him. I bailed him out to the tune of $250 and took him to the vet where I paid another $300 to get him fixed up and neutered. Now Bear had a home, bed, food, and two new cat siblings who hated him, me and life in general.
Fast forward to a week later when I came home from work and....Bear was on the patio. No wait, Bear was inside the condo, outside, inside. I let the outdoor Bear come in and meet his twin. They circled each other, sniffed each other, and decided to be friends. My neighbor, who knew Bear, came over and we watched in amazement as the two cats sat near each other and looked at us. Their markings were almost exactly the same down to the spots on the side of their noses. About a week later, the outdoor Bear came to breakfast and had a nasty, bleeding abscess on his leg (Can it be the same leg as the other cat? Yes it is!) The outdoor cat was stuffed in a carrier and taken to the vet. Yet another $300 later he was fixed and neutered, and snuggled up with his twin. The new cat needed a name with "bear" in it so he became Sugarbear. From then on Sugarbear was known as "the best mistake I'd ever made".

I don't know that I will find again one cat, let alone two, with the sweet, loving dispositions these two cats had. Sugarbear passed away in November 2007 and Bear passed away Nov 2008. I miss