Mr. Mau's Story

In August 2018 I was gardening in the pollinator garden, digging a hole for a new flowering shrub. I got a few minutes break and was stretching my back when I felt sad again about Tommy. He was my best Ginger cat who had lost his battle with cancer just a little more than a year ago. I looked up at the sky and was asking out loud; "Where are you Tommy?" Since I have always believed in signs of a Spirit, I was hoping that one day I would get a message from him. As soon as I was ready to continue to dig a little deeper I heard a gentle meow.

I could not believed what I was seeing and had to blink. There was a skinny white-ginger cat just a few feet away, continuing this gentle greeting. At first he was shy but that only lasted for few minutes. He came closer to me, rubbed himself against my legs and looked into my eyes with a happy little hope. It was immediately obvious that he was a mature male cat.

My excitement grew and I went towards the house to let my husband know we had a new arrival. I asked him to bring out a can of cat food as I kept asking the kitty; Where you came from? Who are you? He answered: Mau. I asked him is that your name Mau? He said Mau. haha. That sounded silly but for me it was such a gentle and loving introduction.
Mr. Mau finished two cans of food in the first five to ten minutes.

Hubby stayed outside with us and he already adopted Mau. He held him, hugged him and kissed him. That was the moment I saw some worms just "jump" out from his little butt. I gave him dewormer immediately as well as sending my husband to our local vet to get something a bit more extensive since I had seen at least two or three different kinds of worms in him. The poor thing was so infested with parasitic worms that his anus and surrounding area was swollen.

We let Mau get used to us before attempting to bring him inside. We kept the garage door open for him at night time as well as the truck windows. We caught him sleeping inside of the truck many times, especially during heavy rain and storms.

One morning I saw him eating rodents and then a roadside squirrel. I told myself THAT's IT! No more disgusting food for him. I was upset that his continued wild diet would negate the dewormer and keep him in a cycle of infestation and then dewormer medicines. Since he was so nice and kind he let me to trim his claws and took him inside the shower. I gave him shower and we provided him an isolation room upstairs.
In the meanwhile we scheduled an appointment with the vet and started a Fundraiser for him. Through the kind donations of his new fans, more than enough for his first veterinary appointment and neuter operation was achieved. Mr. Mau was isolated for four weeks until he was cleared from worms, parasites and ear mites. Don't worry that we left him all alone. Hubby stayed with him all that time and they made friends.
I took him outside with a harness so he was easier to adjust to his new life. It did not take too long for him to get used to the clean, warm house with food, treats and other pets. He easily made friends with Kahili, the only other male cat here. They have became best buddies, but Mr. Mau is such a gentle cat, that he friends with all the pets here.

One year after we rescued him, a tiny black kitten (Augustina) found us as well. Mr. Mau loved this tiny kitten as well and they became friends. One day I caught Mau and Augustina on the window bed looking outside and he had one paw hugging her. Probably he was just telling the story to her of how he had arrived here and was now fat and happy and that she had come to the right house.