yup. from the wide jowls, bet it’s a young male. Not old enough to have been in many fights but
old enough to roam and act studly.
Again, the coat says it’s been fed regularly or else it’s a great hunter.
What’d you say his name is? 
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Yeah, I’m leaning toward male. I’ll bet he started spraying in the house, and the people dumped him, because that’s so much easier than actually being responsible with your animals and taking them to the vet. Might not be totally grown yet. The body isn’t quite filled out to match the face. He is a bit smaller than Bagheera (normal-sized but full of dynamite) and definitely than Satin (larger but more amiable). I haven’t seen Cotton up next to him, but Cotton is the largest of the outside pride, coming in at just a bit bigger than Sarge (who wears stripes).
I’m informed by my stepmother than his name is Christmas.
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He (confirmed) arrived on the porch this afternoon for the late afternoon feeding. The feline symphony continues, but I haven’t seen a flat-out fight. He’s actually fairly submissive, will lay down and just tuck himself up while somebody growls and snarls two feet from him. I think they’re just sorting things out. Again, there is simply too much of this farm to corner somebody on. Even my cat hut that I built has three doors. But he clearly presented for the meal tonight, working out serving hours. Still kind of wary, but I did manage a full-length stroke this time, including lifting the tail. Yep, he has accessories. Sigh. Give it about a week or so to get more relaxed with me, and then I’ll have to make him an appointment at the clinic. Need to be sure I could catch him first and that he’s getting regular enough to be put on the schedule. Interestingly, he does NOT like cars. Another went by tonight while I was talking to him. He reacts more to a car (150 feet away on the road) than to anything else that I’ve seen.
I think he’s definitely signing on for the position, though. Clear up on the porch to wait for me tonight. Was I advertising a position? I thought I cancelled that ad.
I’ll try out a name or two on him.
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The name for the new cat came to me last night. I’d been looking for something Christmas related. Noel is too feminine, I think. Not sure on just Christmas. But I’ve got it now. His name is Adeste, which no doubt will be shortened to Des or Dessie. But I love the pun. Perfectly appropriate for Christmas, but also the meaning of “o come” is apparently what my place is listed as in that invisible feline guidebook.
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The only person I know named Noel is a man.
ETA that the female form is usually spelled “Noelle”
Pronounced No’wol (masculine) or No-'well (feminine) ?
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I think his name should be “Joseph” and don’t you already have a “Mary”?
Or Kris?
or Hesus?
I considered Kris (or Chrys had he been a female) and Joseph. He doesn’t really seem like either of those. He does seem like a Des. I knew a man named No’l (or pronounced that way) once, but to me, it’s a feminine name. Regardless of what some parents have done with their kids, I personally could not name a male any critter that. As for Hesus, I’d never name any animal that, either. That one is taken. 
And yes, I have a Mary. My little tortie spook. She’s a character.
Des continues to get closer, coming to the porch now for feeding. He’s still not 100% reliable on the schedule. He and Bagheera did get into it this evening after the meal, so I moved the trap from the garage up onto the porch.
I’m going to go ahead and try to catch him, hopefully tomorrow or Friday early, but if I have to wait until after the weekend, I’ll just keep working with it over the holiday weekend with an unset trap and resume serious efforts Monday. Somehow, I do not feel comfortable trying to grab this cat and stuff him in a carrier yet. He is pettable on the front half but is still wary, and I’m not entirely sure he wouldn’t try to bite me. I’ll trust my instincts on that feeling. So I got out the trap, and I will take canned food with me the next few days to feed and try to maneuver him into the chute using that as bait when he shows up. If I can get him any time tomorrow (preferably early, but if afternoon, he can just board overnight) or early Friday, they can probably work him in. They would understand the unreliability on schedule yet, I’ve been a client for 20 years, and a neuter is very quick. I didn’t really want to do this quite yet, but since he’s starting to show signs of aggression as he begins to relax, I think we’d better get to working on it. Rather pay vet bills to neuter than vet bills for bite abscesses.
He really is a beautiful cat. He is also skittish of people, though clearly socialized at one point, and he is especially skittish of cars. I think somebody did dump him. That’s another reason I think that the see-through trap might be easier than the carrier to deal with at this stage.
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Des is delivered for life-improvement surgery sometime in the next day (thank you for working him in, vet clinic!), and I have to pick him up before closing Friday. The trapping went fairly well. He did not react to a cat food can, but as soon as it was open and he could smell it, he got quite interested. I put it just in the opening of the trap, but the next time I reached in to move it farther inside, he growled at me. So then I just used the scissors blade to poke with through the side bars. Take a bite, slide the can another inch, take a bite, another inch, up until he was well in and I could spring it.
Rascal cracked me up. When I opened the food, I was trying to divide into two groups, a few bites over here for the locals to keep them out of the way, then the rest of the can to work with in the trap for Des. He, however, went for the first batch delivered, the portions for the locals. I was trying to shift him back carefully with my foot, but then he happened to get too close to Rascal. Bam. She smacked him clear back on his haunches, and his momentary shock at her gall let me get him turned with my foot where he could fixate on the can.
Ah, Rascal. Equal opportunity cat: She will slap anybody.
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Call from the vet. Des is under now and is doing fine. No microchip; I had asked them to scan him. He does, naturally, have ear mites and worms. So we’re doing neutering, demiting, deworming, and a rabies shot because I always at least add a rabies shot for the drifters I do.
I’ll pick him up tonight, and we’ll see if he sticks around. Some of the drifters have, and others have been so offended that they rocketed out of the carrier and were last seen departing rapidly into the distance. I kind of hope this one stays, minus the aggression. He is a handsome boy.
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We have frigid weather and winter junk forecast for New Year’s Day, so I bought a bale of straw and added some to all cat hideyholes and shelter spots around the farm, ending by fluffing up the cat hut. This definitely required quality inspection.
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My cats like to sit by the heat vents too. 
Did Des stick around and show up for breakfast this morning?
Yes, Des is still hanging around the edges. He was a bit subdued, which is good. Hopefully he’ll be a nice Tim cat now, as Mom used to call retired Tom cats.
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What IS it about Torties? Each one seems a bit tetched. Here’s my Morticia.
Long live the Cats of the Farm thread!
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Morticia is a great cat name!
I have three torties at the moment, though Solo is a dilute. All three of them are definitely strong characters.
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Des is still hanging around. He was here for the meal tonight. I scratched his ears and told him he cost me $150, so the least he can do is sign onto the hunting roster. No further fights that I’ve heard or seen. Bagheera growls at him, as does Cotton, but that’s probably just remembering his unreformed behavior. Nobody is following through that I’m aware of.
Everybody has done well in our first really cold snap of winter. They weren’t on the porch this morning when I went out, but they came running from all directions as soon as they heard me; I didn’t even have to call them. They are out and prowling this afternoon, although it’s still cold. They were thrilled to get wet food tonight along with their fresh drink to help stoke the fires for tonight’s low. Tomorrow, the yo-yo is supposed to spin back up some, and the snow will melt. Now that we’ve officially had winter, I vote for spring.
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