Then came the bad news: the shelter would not accept Tyler. They explained that they are a "no kill" shelter, and to remain that way, they had to be selective about the pets they accept, and that meant no strays. They told us that, if we were desperate, we could bring him in. However, they would ship him to another shelter to be euthanized.
That "solution" simply did not settle with me. I immediately headed to the classifieds and to Craigslist, posting photos of the gorgeous Coon. I have to admit, he was a hard sell; he had bitten me quite hard the first time I'd tried to place him into a crate, and I knew he wouldn't be suitable for a home with children. He'd also fought over food with my own cats (fights that had ended with several trips to the vet to drain abscesses as a result) so I knew that, based on his months in the wild fighting for food, he wouldn't be acceptable with other indoor domestic cats, either. As much as I wanted to fluff up his good qualities, I knew that I needed to be honest - even if honestly didn't exactly paint the best picture of him.
To my surprise and delight, within two days, a couple contacted me. They asked me about his hunting abilities, and as his main source of food before me had come from the mice I'd seen him catch on several occasions, I could give him top marks. The couple lived on a farm about fifteen miles out of town, and were looking for a mouser to live in their barn. They said they'd be happy to have him, and asked me to bring him down as soon as I could.
I was so ecstatic that I nearly forgot the tricky part; catching him. Trying to put Tyler into a crate previously had resulted in several bites on my right hand, as well as scratches all over my chest and neck. I'd rented a humane, live-animal trap two weeks previously, but no matter how much I refused him his usual meal on the porch in place of setting it inside the trap (and feeling awful to do it), our Maine Coon simply refused to enter, for dry food, wet food, or even tuna fish. Even Roy, equipped with cat toys, treats, and a hefty pair of utility gloves to avoid bites, was unable to catch him after several attempts (although he did run off with a toy mouse!)
Yesterday, over an entire week after getting the call from our farming couple, I used tuna juice to create a trail leading into the trap. Tyler was so ravenous that he was eating the strands of grass that the tuna had touched, but still refused to enter. My rental time for the trap was up, but I knew I couldn't give up. I would buy my own trap if necessary, and keep at it until winter if I had to! I walked around the house to get the hose to clean out the trap, came back around the house... and there he was. Inside the now-locked trap, glaring at me.
It was like Christmas. I quickly called the couple who'd wanted him; they weren't home at the time, but said to go ahead and drop him off in the barn. Initially I was nervous; I honestly didn't know much about the couple, and for a long time I worried that I may be leaving him in a worse situation than he'd been in with us. Once we arrived, we headed toward the open barn. I opened the trap and Tyler slowly came out, curious. A well-fed female calico ran out from under a tractor and began twirling around Roy's legs, purring happily. She saw Tyler and purred even louder, eager to say hello. Despite the thousands of places for him to hide, rather than dashing off the moment he was free, the stray sat down quietly and looked around, almost as if thinking, "Well, this is actually sort of nice."
Seeing him sitting there in the barn with the obviously well-looked-after calico, and looking at the sheer amount of space he had to roam, I felt a lot better as I drove off and left him behind. Roy and I both agreed that we'll sort of miss him... but our own cats will sure be happy!
