The Cat Distribution System didn't work this time.

Meet Oreo. He's a 19 month old neutered domestic short hair tuxedo cat. This is at the SPCA animal shelter on 7/31/2025. We considered one other cat, a vocal friendly siamese mix neutered male. Oreo was friendly and my wife liked him so we adopted him. We had a 15 year old female cat that got sick a month or so ago. She didn't recover and we had to let her go.

We bought him two kitty condos and he had started to use them and even began to play with the hanging ball toy. He was also playful with a couple other toys we bought him.

He liked both of the cubby holes on this kitty condo.

For the first few days he was doing a lot of hiding under this recliner. Behind the recliner became one of his favorite spots to sleep. He had been jumping up on our laps and enjoying pets and scritches. He was becoming a bit vocal, especially around meal time. He was rubbing up against our legs and giving us head butts. At first he was hiding under our bed but he seemed to be comfortable with being on the bed. He got used to the litter box, his food dish and a kitty water fountain we bought for him. He seemed ok with the wet and dry food we were giving him.

On Sunday August 10th, we were on our way out to see a movie and my wife (on her way out to the car to put my medical equiptment in the back seat) left the front door open a little too long and Oreo bolted. He had not shown any movement towards the door before this, but we had been careful not to give him an opening. When I came outside he was still close to apartment and I sat on the steps for the upstairs apts and called to him. He just scooted away and looked at me like he was scared and had never seen me before. I was still in underwear so I went back in to the apartment and put some shorts and sandals so I could go out and find him. I was back out in less than 5 minutes, but Oreo was nowhere to be seen. We walked around the complex and outside the gate/fence for an hour, calling out to him but he never showed himself. I posted on the Next Door App and a neighbor offered to loan us a humane trap which we set and placed near our apartment door in case he came back at night.

Tonight I was looking outside our apt complex back gate and I saw a neighbor across the street so I asked him if he had seen Oreo. He said he did see a cat with Oreo's description in his driveway and he was going towards an adjacent creek bed. So I stood near where the creek went under the street and called for him. About 15 minutes later, two cats ran from the neighbor's driveway across the street to a office property with a grass yard next to our complex. I called over to him and he stopped and looked over at me. I started walking towards him but before I got halfway he walked off and I couldn't see him anywhere. I went back to our apartment and got my walker, the cat carrier and a plastic container with some cat treats. I went over the corner of the complex property where I last saw Oreo and played YouTube videos of mother cats calling kittens and called out to him. A few minutes later, one of our neighbors parked their car and I told them what I was doing and they said when they drove out (while I was back at the apartment) they saw Oreo go back across the street. So I moved outside the complex gate/fence, sat on the walker seat and played the video, called out to him and shook the treat container. After about 15 minutes, Oreo came walking down the driveway and crossed the street. I put down some treats and he started eating them. He then started eating them out of my hand right in front of me between my feet. I started scratching his back and he didn't move. He just kept eating the treats.

So at this point I decided to try and pick him up with both hands and put him in the carrier to take him back to the apartment. As I picked him up he started to struggle and as I tried harder to control him, he struggled even more to not let me get a good hold of him.

He then started to scratch me and bit down near the base of my thumb. He did not let go and I still tried to keep hold of him and get him in the carrier. He kicked at the carrier knocking it away and I had to let go of him. He took off across the street.

I went back in the apartment and poured hydrogen peroxide on the wounds. I'll go to urgent care in the morning to get checked out. I'm on heart meds and blood thinners after an open heart operation 2 years ago and I can't risk these type of injuries again.

I hate to let him go like that but at this point I have to assume he's gone feral and isn't coming back. We'll give it a few more days and will consider trying for another rescue cat at the shelter since we spent quite a bit of money on supplies before we picked up Oreo. Sunday was my wife's birthday so she was really sad about it and felt it was her fault. I just said that there was probably no stopping him once he saw his opening. And now after his reaction tonight, it's pretty clear he has made his choice. I'll probably go out now and then and offer him some treats if he comes out. I'm glad he has made a friend while he tries to survive.