As we were entering a supermarket last week, we saw a cat sleeping under the shopping carts. I got giddy when I noticed an ear tip because it’s one of “our kitties”. As tempting as it was to pet him, I let him sleep. A few minutes later, looking straight at us was that sleeping cat but with a very familiar face. “It’s the Rus Market boy!” I told Kenric. We couldn’t believe it. Is that you?!

Last September, as we were walking to the car, a used-clothes vendor at Rus Market directed our attention to a skinny and grumpy tomcat. We gestured that our traps were full, and that we would return later.

Luckily, the cat was still there when we returned, but Grumpy was more pitiful than I had initially thought. The somewhat dried-up wound on his forehead must have been really big.

The vendor and his friend (both male) took turns asking us to trap the other for sterilization.

Grumpy was hungry but not enough to enter the trap. After a while, he walked away. Kenric followed with the trap while I sat on the steps, and did some administrative work.

Kenric returned about 20 minutes later with the cat. Phew! I was afraid we would embarrass ourselves in front of the two men. They nodded approvingly when Kenric lifted the trap cover to show them. Grumpy was much meeker than I expected. He stayed at the clinic for two extra days to receive extra antibiotics for his wound.

Other than the wheelbarrow-pulling lady praising us “Shume mire!” for our work, it was a pretty routine release. Later that day, as we were scouting the area for more cats, we saw Grumpy sleeping on a pile of dirt in an abandoned building. Already, he seemed more chill and relaxed. We never saw him again, until…”It is you!”

We told the cashier we knew the cat. She must have thought, “So?” If only she knew what he looked like, how far he had moved, and how much I wondered about him. She was really chummy with Chonky Grumpy. He let her squeeze him all over which he would never have allowed six months ago.

I got to pet him over and over. He loved it; but not as much as I did. It was so fulfilling to see this Good Boy become a Shume Mire Boy. If those two men see how good Grumpy looks now, they’ll check themselves in at Dr. Sokol’s clinic.

#SpayingItForward #Shkoder #Albania #TNR #Cats #Grumpy