Gandalf the Grey Cat

As some of you may recall, we featured a meowbox meowdel contest not all too long ago, and we were very fortunate to be introduced to Gandalf the Grey cat, one of our 12 finalists! Gandalf has quite a history and story to tell and his wonderful fur-ever hooman, Maria, was kind enough to share that story with us below.

It all began in the Summer of 2015, when Gandalf first started coming around to the house. Daily feedings at our house were a norm for many of the stray cats we cared for, including our resident cat; Bob. Gandalf, although shy to human interaction, was enticed by the daily meal and wasn’t scared to take advantage of it! One day, in early March, Gandalf had come for breakfast as usual, but this time he had a massive wound on the left side of his face and I knew that he needed medical attention. My husband and I managed to trap him in the garage where he hid for a few hours until finally he came out to eat.

With a Wi-Fi camera installed in the garage, we could monitor Gandalf and slowly gain his trust. The vet had given him a shot of antibiotics to help heal the wound and had treated him for the bad case of ear mites he was experiencing.

"Gandalf was not comfortable being inside – he wanted to leave and I couldn’t deny him that"

While I was away on a short trip, Gandalf unfortunately escaped. My husband didn’t tell me until we got back and although I was pretty distraught, I knew I could catch him once again. Little did I know that he would be back so soon as he was on our porch the next day to eat. I knew I would have to bide time for him to gain trust in our property once again. So after waiting patiently for a few more days, I was able to re-trap him in the garage and take him to a neutering appointment I had scheduled earlier. Over the next couple of days, I noticed that Gandalf was not comfortable being inside – he wanted to leave and I couldn’t deny him that so we let him continue on his journey.

Two weeks later, Gandalf was back and decided that he wanted to move in. He literally came to the door and pawed for me to open it. We put all the other animals behind closed doors and let him wander. It was so sweet to see him play with toys. He was like a child that never has seen a toy before. I literally cried. After what seemed to be an hour, he wanted out again. I let him out. The next day, he did the same thing, but this time I didn’t let him go back outside. I knew this was his home now.

"I knew this was his home now."

The last few weeks have been rough. Gandalf had to learn to be a house cat after living on the streets. Although he was spraying in boxes other than our litter box, a little research into using a combination of Feliway and Jackon Galaxy’s Space Safe seems to have done the trick!

Gandalf is now my gentle teddy bear. He gets along with everyone and loves playing with toys. He is also very patient with me when I take tons of silly pics of him.

Gandalf the Grey can be seen very frequently on his adopted siblings instagram account @max_maxthecat