Billy the Kid strikes again

I may have mentioned our barn cat from time to time.  I may have explained his first days at the farm. 

Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty

I may have shown you how he likes to sleep in the girls nesting boxes. 

Remodel Update

I may even have wrongly accused him of bad, unfriendly chicken behavior. 

Drat!

How could I have been so wrong?

Gross Injustice

What can I say, I love this cat.  Since his first days here, he has continued to amaze me with his peculiar ways. He thinks he has sisters with feathers and wings.  He thinks it is a good idea to catch wild birds and then eat them in the chicken house.  I am sure the girls are like, "Hey!  That's our cousin your crunching on!"  He has done this twice that I know of because I have found wings.  Apparently he doesn't like wings?

Rude!

To add to his list of strange behaviors, he loves to get muddy.  It is one of the strangest things about him, but on more than one occasion, I have picked him up only to be covered by muddy paw prints.  In the few rainy months that we have in Texas, you will often hear him galloping through the mud.  You can always hear him because he is anything but stealthy.  This has always surprised me.  He loves to run and catch up with you when you go out back to empty the wheel barrow after cleaning stalls.  This has always been a little weird in the dark.  You can hear something coming, but you have no idea what it is until he catches up with you.

I thought cats were supposed to be quiet?

This year the temperatures really went up fast.  It seemed like we had a hotter than usual June.  We started noticing that Kid had a severe shedding problem.  It seemed like his winter coat would just not go away.  Plus, he was starting to get a barn smell.  We combed him, but his shedding was worse and worse.  If you were to pick him up and hold him for even a second, you were covered in hair.  This is not good for the Man in Charge because he is severely allergic to cats.  Not that he picks up the cat, but he doesn't like it when I do.  The Full-timer has her own little allergy to cats, but she chooses to ignore it.

We knew we had a problem, but we really were limited on what to do.  We kicked around the idea of giving him a bath, but only for a very brief moment.  I didn't feel like we could get away with it.  I love this cat, and he does weird things, but I did not want to get shredded by said cat.  I have bathed kittens, but only very small kittens, and only for very good reasons.  I mean, really, what is his problem?  Aren't cats are supposed to bathe themselves?

Well, aren't they? 

As the days passed, things were getting progressively worse.  We were out in the heat of the day, doing some ridiculous chore that I have now forgotten.  All that I remember for certain is that it was hot, when who should show up, but Kid?  He can't help it.  He will risk dogs to be up at the house with people.  Can I just say that there is nothing like being outside, hot, sweaty, and then picking up a stinky, shedding cat.  He smells and the hair that comes off of him, gets stuck on you. 

I couldn't take it anymore. 

In my momentary loss of sanity, I grabbed him by the back of his neck and put him on the sidewalk.  I then held his back end down with my other hand and told my Full-timer to grab the hose.  I had no idea how this would go, but we had to do something.  I really anticipated having my arms shredded, but in true Kid fashion, he did not behave as expected.  He squirmed enough that he was able to get away from me when we had the hose pointed to his back, but he didn't run far.  Like, he only went a couple of feet away from me and I quickly picked him back up and put him back on the sidewalk.  We started hosing him down, and nothing.  No reaction!  I had my faithful helper run inside and grab some dog shampoo, because who has cat shampoo, and we lathered the crazy little thing up.  He took it.  He let us rinse him.  Then when we started towel drying him, he started trying to groom himself.  I still don't really know what to think about all of this.  It was like he had been waiting for us to give him a hand.  I guess he doesn't realize that I am not really his Mom.  Even if I was his Mom, he is plenty old enough to practice good grooming habits. 

We were able to snap a few shots once we towel dried him.  He continued to try to groom himself while I was holding him.

Then he just sat there looking sad...

So we took him inside, to relax in the A/C.

Somehow I feel like this was all a ploy and I have been used.  I can't explain it, but that is how I feel.