Cat 5 Telephone

"The varied and numerous avatars of Felix the Cat"

In Greece, a cat is considered by many as an animal garden, a bit like a squirrel or chipmunk is seen in Britain or America. Most cats are left to themselves, the thinking being that they will control the rodent population more effectively if they have to hunt for food. The average lifespan for an outdoor cat in Greece, I am told by a veterinarian, about three years. This is due to the dangers they face many (mainly car traffic) as they wander through the streets of the village gather at restaurants, or explore the countryside protected.



We adopted our cat Felix animal shelter about a year before coming to Greece to live. At the time, it was assumed he was about three years, but its real history is unknown. Over time, we concluded that it had been brought to the shelter after his original owner died. (We have our reasons for making this assumption).



For the first year that Felix was with us, we live in a city apartment, he remained an indoor cat. He seemed pretty happy with the arrangement, if we naturally assume that that was his previous lifestyle. When we decided to come to Corfu to live, the question arose of what to do with Felix. Even during the first year, he had lived with us, we had grown fond of him, and we do not want to give him up. At the same time, the thought of moving an animal five thousand miles to a new home on another continent, we seemed a bit farfetched. Finally, we made the difficult decision to abandon him, and Kelly has found a very nice boy who has agreed to adopt it. Arrangements have been made, and Saturday morning one week before our departure for Greece, the new caretaker came to fetch him. After a session on short and tearful farewell, Felix was out of his new home. Or so we thought ...



As the hours passed on that day, we grew increasingly discouraged to give Felix for adoption, and about seven o'clock, my wife decided to phone the new owner to see what could be organized on his return . "I made the biggest mistake, she told the boy." I gave my best friend. "Well, it's easy with hindsight to say that Felix had worked its way deep into his heart, and the decision was made to take it to Greece, come what may. We phoned the company and bought his way from Denver to Frankfurt and Athens.



Felix made the trip to Greece as a real trooper. The interior of the flexible bag, it flew under the front seat for fourteen hours without making a sound (a bit unusual, it is normally quite chatty, he probably gets to me) and without damage ( if you're my drift).



Once we moved into our new digs in Corfu, Felix seemed to make the adjustment without worry. There was even an indoor cat, as he had never known anything else, but when we returned after an absence, we would like to see his little face looking through the separate strands of our kitchen window and I began to wonder how long we could keep him in our small apartment before he was curious and ventured out on his own. We decided to present it to the great outdoors of our garden, and of course his new life outdoors was soon underway.



Since that first summer up hotter, we obviously left our windows open, and Felix soon determined that the open window just above the stairs overlooking the garden was her door. He came and went at will, and sometimes he was gone for hours. Yet he always returned, sometimes with a gift for us.



As autumn arrived and the nights grew cold, Felix became an avid hunter. Not only did he leave the mouse he had caught our window, he has chosen.