Happy Tail: Jake
“Sometimes, a little bit of vetting is all that’s needed to completely change a cat’s outlook.”
So says ace trapper and ACR foster and board member April. And boy, can April back up that claim. Behold the story of Jake the cat, a true-life tale of astonishing transformation, all because of a vet visit.
Rewind to spring of 2021. April was among those called to a large backyard colony of some 21 cats, including several pregnant females, in North York. Among them was kitten Dora, (in)famously born without a butthole but successfully treated thanks to ACR and many generous donors who offered financial aid.
Also trapped was young adult black boy Jake, nicknamed “Black mamba” by his feeders for his fierce demeanour. During his neuter at the Toronto Humane Society, Jake’s vets noticed he had two fractured canine teeth, a frightful condition likely caused by fighting or landing hard from a high jump.
Because the pandemic was afoot, Jake’s crucial dental surgery, which ACR agreed to underwrite, couldn’t be scheduled for several weeks. Though the original plan was to TNR Jake, April instead crated him indoors in the interim. And Jake —doubtless in severe pain — was a terror.
“I tried to work with him using a backscratcher. But he would smack it, lunge, swat and hiss,” April recalls. “Every time I tried to take the bowls out of the crate he would smack me. He would sit right by the door, never hiding in the back. He was very confident in his ability to take me out,” she chuckles, adding “I had to get one of those reacher-grabber things to remove the bowls.
“Yet the very next day after his dental, I went to the crate to feed him, and he walked out and rubbed up against my leg,” she continues. “The change in his attitude and behaviour was immediate and incredible.”
No longer in pain, and tenderly cared for by April, Jake had passed two milestones on his path to a happy indoor life. But there would be a setback. In November of 2021, Jake was adopted but the pairing didn’t stick, and he was returned just a month later.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Jake, Kathy and Josh were watching his progress via April’s Instagram account. Still smarting from the loss of their cat Joseph in
the summer of 2021, the couple “were looking for a companion for our other cat, Gordon, also from Annex.
“Because Gordon is FIV+ we thought we’d get another FIV+ cat and one that was black as we knew those two factors could make those cats more challenging to adopt out,” Kathy says. “I also saw that he had been briefly adopted out and returned. So, a black cat that was FIV+ and had been adopted and returned… check! We knew he’d be a good fit for us.”
And he was, from the moment he landed with Kathy and Josh in January 2022. Says Kathy, “He still needed a bit of socialization — I got smacked a few times — but it didn’t take long before Jake” — estimated to be about age eight to Gordon’s 13 — “made himself at home.”
Later that same year, Kathy and Josh “foster failed” with another ACR cat named Damian, age five, and the trio is now as tight at The Police, Rush, Cream or any other rock ‘n’ roll power trio you care to name.
“Jake is like a typical middle child in that he is independent — he doesn’t seek out attention like the other two. He’s content doing his thing and chilling out,” Kathy says, noting he is “not a food mooch,” hanging back and letting Gordon do the proverbial legwork of demanding sustenance from his carers. “I don’t know if that’s him being very smart or just very chill,” she laughs.
As a cheerful addendum, all but one of the other cats at Jake and Dora’s original colony were successfully adopted out. One cat was TNR’d; April confirms he is now living indoors with his feeder.
And Jake? “He likes watching cat TV and, in the summer, he likes to perch on the windowsill and see what’s going on outside,” Kathy confirms. “He is the best sun tanner in summer and heating pad–indulger in winter. His nickname is ‘Handsome.’ Jake is just such a good boy, so chill. He just does his thing. We love them all.”
-Kim Hughes
