He appeared to be an old tomcat, with ears tattered from numerous fights. He had the big, husky body of a complete male and his face was wide from the masculine hormones produced by his huge, round testicles.

I thought he was rabid when he approached me, meowing loudly and I was afraid to get close to him, but he walked up to me several times, meowing. I fed him and he came back the next day and I fed him again. He didn’t show up the day after that. I looked for him, but didn’t really expect to see him.

He showed up again on the fourth day and everyday after that. He followed me as I did my chores and I noticed a swelling on his right front foot. It took a little courage, but I petted his head, which he accepted, and with caution, I picked him up to examine the foot. It looked like a sore or, maybe cancer.

The next day he walked into the barn and ate with the other 3 barn cats and slept in their bed. His foot was bigger and he was limping.

The next morning, I picked him up and said, “If you want to live here, that’s fine. But you have to loose these (I touched his enormous testicles) and we need to take care of that foot.” I made an appointment with my vet to have him neutered and to have his foot treated.

On the following day, I was supposed to take him to the vet’s office at 4 PM, but didn’t see the orange tom all day. At 3 PM he walked up to me as if to say: “Okay, I’m ready.” I bundled him into the cat carrier and off we went to the vet’s office. “What’s his name?” they asked at the office. “Uh.....Tom,” I said.

The foot was only infected. It healed without a problem. So... we have a fine, new/old orange and white cat who has decided that domestication is wonderful. Tom has claimed the best cat bed, is the first to eat and is always there, in the barn, every day to greet me. My Jack Russell gets attacked on a regular basis by the cat he used to chase across the property.

But the most curious thing is that my black and white neutered male cat, CeCe, who was, in the past, absent from barn duties constantly and for days at a time, is always home now. CeCe was the first, it appeared, to make friends with Tom and he spent a lot of time by his side. Or...had CeCe been spending his time with Tom in the woods all along - when he went missing from the barn...and did he finally convince Tom to come to the barn and ask for food and help?