a year of Mr. Oliver!!!!

Guess what today is? It's Mr. Oliver's 1-year gotcha day!!!! One year ago today he started making his way into my heart. Before he told me his name, I called him BK for Black Kitty.

On this day last year I saw Mr. Oliver, sleeping under the cover of a bench and tree to stay dry from the rain. Knowing he was homeless and seeing him there stirred my heart to take action. I realized I probably couldn't bring Oliver inside my house so I needed to find another solution.

August 22, 2011

Six days later, I built him his first house.

Then in another six days came the Dining Hall.

Nine days after that his original house was converted to a guest house and I built him a larger fully insulated house just for him. He took to living in his house right away. He had to wait until mid November to get the heat installed, poor guy. His big house sits right in front of the bench swing I saw him sleeping under.

Guest house is on left, big house on right

It took a long time before Oliver was willing to stay in the yard when I came out. Over time the distance he would create between us kept decreasing. Forever etched in my brain is the memory of the first day that Oliver climbed into my lap and melted into a puddle of purrs. It was October 20, 2011. This boy was so hungry for human touch.

non-stop loves and purrs

At the end of December he finally told be his name was Oliver!

It didn't take long for him to invite his family over to share his wealth.

Dining Hall filled to capacity

Oliver takes the roof and gives his family the house

In February 2012, he got his first chance to walk inside the house and explore!

Wheeeeee...

In March 2012, I built him his special loft on the back porch, which he immediately took possession of.

Sometime over the summer of 2012 Oliver talked me into having a daily morning snuggle time on the human bed. He meets me at the door, I carry him inside and we have our morning snuggle time.

Oliver is an extremely affectionate cat, probably even more affectionate than the indoors cats. He loves to play and to be close. If it wasn't for his insistence on urine marking his possessions, he would certainly be an inside cat.

Today it's time to celebrate Mr. Oliver's 1 year of gotchadom!!!

To mark this special occasion today, Mr. Oliver gets his official collar and tag to tell the world that he has been gotcha'ed!!!!!!

I got proof! I'm not homeless cat anymore!!

He proudly wears his new collar, however he's not a big fan of the hanging tag, so I'll be looking for the tags that go around the collar rather than hang.