I hate waiting!

This is Max, our neighbor's cat. He was originally named Hunter and basically had to fend for himself in his original neighborhood.  The neighbors took him in and moved into the house next to ours (with Max and 6 other cats!) in 1998 just a year after we moved into our house. 

Max has always been a tough outdoor (mostly) cat. He's a sweetie but you can only pet him for a little bit or he will let you know that he has had enough.  He's always let me pick him up and snuggle. When I'm outside weeding, he is always around flopped onto the dirt, sometimes rolling onto newly planted lettuce or gnawing on the cat nip seedlings that come up in our yard. He does prefer cat mint however. 

we've been saying he's about 15 years old for about 5 years.  Truthfully, no one knows how old he is.  He's been our "outdoor cat "for 16 years and was at least a couple (few? 4-5?) years old when he moved in with the neighbors.  The other 6 cats have all passed on and a new generation is romping about inside the house just like in ours. 

He's shaky now and moves slowly unless another cat messes with his catnip AND he is awake to notice.  Just a few weeks ago he got into it with another neigbhor cat and went streaking off defending his turf just fine, thank you very much.  He sleeps very hard and has some thyroid issues so needs to eat every few hours. We keep a supply of his kibbles and feed him whenever he demands.  LIfe is simple for Max and I will really miss him when he passes on.  We are catsitting him this week as his people are on vacation. 

He lets us know when he wants food by a deep yowl.  He does not like to wait and his people report that they are getting up a couple times a night to feed him.  I hate waiting too Max!  Fun weekend coming up with a goal race with lots of good memories attached, I am ready for the weekend!