Original Article: https://blog.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/rescue-story-tehya/

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One night after getting home from work, I heard all this meowing coming from underneath my gardenia bush. I called out, and a cat came out towards me.

tehya2 - Stray Cat Pops Up in Neighbor’s Bush, Decides to Stroll Right Into Her Home Past Her Dog
CAT. PHOTO: PIXABAY / BEN KERCKX

She looked to be young. She kept her distance at first, but eventually let me pet her. I had some cat food inside, so I brought her some. Over the next couple of days, when I got home, she’d be waiting out front for me.

FEED SHELTER PETS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

I decided to name her Maggie (Mae). One night as I went to go inside, she strolled right inside in front of me. She must have had a home at some point in time. I have a Lhaso Apso and that didn’t faze the cat in the least. However, I wasn’t sure how my dog would take to a cat.

tehya3 - Stray Cat Pops Up in Neighbor’s Bush, Decides to Stroll Right Into Her Home Past Her Dog
CAT. PHOTO: PIXABAY / ZSUZSA

I had a friend at work who was looking for a young female cat, so I contacted him. My friend said that when he got the cat home, all she did was hiss and growl at his cats. Also, that she was, in fact, a neutered male. I decided to keep him and hoped my dog would deal with it.

Maggie got renamed Tehya (which means precious in the Zuni language). At the vet, they said he was approximately 3- to 4-years-old. He wasn’t young – he was thin. Who knows how long he’d been out on his own. He obviously was owned at some point since he had been fixed. But he had decided when he walked through my front door that first time, this was his new home.

tehya1 - Stray Cat Pops Up in Neighbor’s Bush, Decides to Stroll Right Into Her Home Past Her Dog
PHOTO: PAMELA INKLEBARGER

That was six years ago. He and the dog get along well – he likes to harass her, of course, and they do play. When she’s had enough, she usually has him pinned down belly side up. He doesn’t move until he knows he can make a break for it. She’s 15 and doesn’t see too well. We think Tehya knows this, as when she comes back in from outside, he “guides” her through the kitchen to the living room. He truly is precious!

Story submitted by Pamela A. Inklebarger from Mary Esther, Florida.

This story was originally shared on The Animal Rescue Site. Share your very own rescue story here!

Source: The Animal Rescue Site Blog