He was as black as the night sky and as a tough as a whole litter of Catahoula puppies. He was born and raised on a ranch in Northern California and thought he would always live there.
One day, the owner's of the ranch died.
The owner's son, Jim, who was a very jolly, good fellow, came and took Stumps across the valley to live at his ranch.
Stumps thought this was a very stupid idea.
He liked HIS ranch. So he ran away, the whole 2 miles back to his place.
2 miles is a very long run for a cat. He was very paw-sore.
Jim came and got Stumps, afraid that he would get hungry now that no one was living there with him. Stumps ran away again.
This continued until one day a family moved into the house on Stump's ranch.
He decided to let them stay because his tail had been eaten off by a coyote and all that remained was a stump and the stump got an aching kind of kink in it that was hard to get at because he didn't have opposing thumbs.
The family obligingly pulled the kink out of his stump once a day.
Stumps showed the family what a stud he was.
He caught them burrowing owls and triumphantly left the remains on their door step.
He went on walks with the family, his tongue lolling out of his mouth and panting like an African lion.
He even liked to sit and watch when they roped the dummy, as long as they did not try and rope him. He fought big rabbits who tried to slice him up with their powerful hind legs, and when he won, he left the remains with the owls on the doorstep.
Stumps liked to sleep under the porch at night because the coyote who ate his tail really wanted to eat the rest of Stumps, too!
Stumps liked to sneak into the house and sleep on the back of the couch during the day. One day, the family noticed Stumps wasn't moving very much. And he'd got awfully skinny. And when he tried to lap up water for a little drink it would dribble out of his mouth. Stumps had gotten in an awful fight with something that ate half his tongue out!!! He was very sick for a while, but because he was Stumps the amazing Ranch Cat, he survived.
What sort of adventures will Stumps have next? Only time will tell, so stay tuned....for more Adventures of Stumps the Ranch Cat!!
xo xo Liz
Photo Credit: The very talented and lovely mums!! AKA The mums, or Alison Brannan
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