Feral Cat Fridays, One Day Late: Sporty
Anyone who is around members of a motorcycle club quickly learns 2 things: Bikers are loyal to their club and they can be even more loyal to their bike. The Davidson feral cat family didn’t earn the name because of their loyalty to their matriarch, Harley. and their bond with one another, but they might as well have.
You’ve already met Softail (AKA Softy), Larry, and the 2 Darryls (also here). Now meet the final member of Harley’s first litter, Sportster (AKA Sporty).
Despite his name, Sporty was a quiet, meek guy who wanted to do nothing but hang around his mother and the rest of the Davidson clan. Davidson family dinners were a thing to behold and Sporty never strayed far from the area of our clearing holding the Harley Platform, our name for the feeding station the Davidson family commandeered.
Other cats, like the young Jackson you see in the photo above, might approach the Harley Platform, but it was rare to see anyone other than a Davidson eat there. It became home base for Sporty. If he wasn’t sitting on its roof you were likely to find him at the nearby water tub or under a neighboring tree.
Sporty looks remarkably similar to the cat at the Natives of Texas Nursery between Kerrville and Medina that bit one of my friends. I’m sure Sporty wouldn’t have done such a thing, of course.
That blue frog is interesting. What was (is) it made of? We always provided pieces of antler to the pet squirrel for gnawing down its teeth; I assume the frog was serving the same purpose.
I wish I could vouch for Sporty’s no-bite character but he was sufficiently feral that we never put that to the test by trying to get that close. Like many of the ferals, we had to look away from Sporty while we put food down near him. He’d spook with a direct look from us. We’ve been to the Natives of Texas Nursery but escaped sans cat attack. It’s an interesting place.
The blue frog was left on the property by the previous owners and had been well chewed the first time we saw it. It was made of a plaster of Paris type material – standard cheap lawn ornament stuff. I’m sure it worked well for tooth maintenance, and maybe provided some mineral supplement.