Just want to get this off my chest.

LunaXPusheen - Even though I know you'll read this even without me tagging you.

KiraReno - Because I just want to keep you updated on his situation.

So, it started around the 4-5 months, I think. We started noticing a certain orange tabby cat that was walking outside of our apartment complex. At first he was a little shy, but then he started getting used to us and walking up to us when we opened the garage. Because a neighbour told us that the cat had been locked in his garage for a week, we started training Ace (We hadn't named him Ace yet at this time) to stay outside of our garage with treats because we didn't want a similar thing to happen with ours.

After a while we noticed that he would come up to us early in the mornings, completely hungry, so we changed the treats for cat food. He gladly ate it, and liked to be petted too. At this time it was our 6 weeks long Summer break. We'd spend hours just sitting with him and petting him, whilst he was allowed to explore our garage a bit too. One afternoon it was raining, and the poor cat was drenched with water. Bris (My brother) took him into the garage and dried him off. Ace looked a lot happier afterwards, but didn't look like he wanted to leave the garage and go back into the rain. We sat with him until it stopped raining, and I asked Bris if he had a name in mind for the orange kitty. He said he didn't, and I suggested Ace because he reminded me of Portgas D. Ace. (for those of you reading that don't know One Piece, 'cause I know you're there, Ace is the brother of the main character and can control flames, plus he wears an orange hat) Bris thought this was a pretty fitting name.

Because we're going to move in February, we had to clean up the garage anyways, and Ace loved laying in the sun in front of it. We would just be busy there for hours, and every time Ace would be there. We started feeding him more, as we noticed that he would fight with another outdoors cat because there wasn't enough food.

Around a month ago it came as far as that we fed him 3 meals a day. We had seen a woman and/or her two children take Ace in overnight, and assumed that they were his owners. One afternoon (around 2-3 weeks ago) I got into a conversation with her, and she told me that they didn't own Ace. They had gotten into contact with his owner, and they said that they knew their cat was walking around there, but they moved. So they just left Ace to wander around outside for an entire year. And the other people that would take him in overnight were going to move to another part of the city I live in in a month time. They wanted to take Ace, or 'Tiger', as they call him, with them, because they really love him. The problem is that he doesn't use a litter box, is what she told me. I told her that we might want to take him in too, but I had to discuss this with my mother, as we also have another cat. I told my mom about this, and she also had a few questions she wanted to ask that woman.

Monday the 23rd of September, 2.5 weeks ago, we spoke with that woman again. She told us that she was going to take 'Tiger' with her when they moved. Her reason why? It's laughable, really. Because he spent the most time with them. I mean, yeah, of course he spends the most time with you if you take him in around 1/2 pm and don't let him go out for the rest of the day/night. And every morning he would come to us, starving. I'm afraid they didn't feed him.

And another stupid part, they were going to instantly let him go outside after they moved, because it's an outdoor cat. Our problem with that? If you let a cat go outside without him or her get used to their new territory (their new house) first, of course they won't know where to go to spend the night. Big chance that Ace would try to find his way back to the place he knows as his territory. The worst part of that is that there are multiple very busy roads in between, and even train tracks. Poor Ace would get run over by either a train or a car. Our other cat's half-brother was an outdoors cat too, he died because he got hit by a train. I think he was at most 2-3 years old. No way in hell I'll let that happen to another cat.

After we finished our conversation with that woman, we went upstairs, and started to prepare a room for Ace to stay in. We would not, and I repeat not, let anything bad happen to the poor cat. He'd been through enough, having to survive outside, on his own, for a year. No actual place to call home, having to fight for enough food and not having a place to go with his overflowing amount of love. We finished that room that evening, with a litter box, a place to sleep, multiple toys, food bowls, and a window through which he could look outside.

Next morning, Tuesday, I had to go to school, as my Summer break had already ended for a few weeks, but I knew my mom would try to 'catch' Ace to take him upstairs. Catching? No problem, he'd tried to come with me at least 2 times already. The other people did actually have to catch him because he otherwise wouldn't come with them. He just calmly followed my mom inside and up the stairs to our apartment. Simple, really. *smile*

I came home that afternoon and I saw him sitting in front of his window, I was so relieved that he was in there, because, really, it would be rainy for the rest of the week. I mean, Autumn/Fall had started so yeah, rainy weather is to be expected. I just went straight up to his room and I entered and he meowed at me so cutely, it melted my heart. I sat with him for around an hour, and in the days that followed I would greet him when I got home from school, and sit with him for a while whilst chatting with one of my best friends. (Yes Misa I'm looking at you <3) Ace also just used the litter box without problems, I don't know how those other people had any troubles with it.

After a while we started to let Ace and Moos (Our other cat) eating next to each other, but with a door between them. So they could both get used to the idea of there being another cat, and hopefully, associate each other with food, and eating together. That... didn't work as planned, they would both stare at the door if they heard the other eat, and when we let them see each other face to face, Moos hissed at Ace.

Last Thursday (3rd of October) we decided to let them actually meet and see what happens. Moos hissed at Ace, and ran off. Coward, really. Afterwards Ace started exploring the territory (house) a bit, and, to Moos' annoyance, started sniffing around his litter boxes. We thought it went alright, and that they would warm up to each other, so we let Ace just walk around the entire apartment for a few days. He loved laying next to me, especially because I was sick and was cold all the time, so he just gave me some extra warmth, hence why I started calling him my 'Furry Fireball'.

On Saturday (5th of October) we went to the vet with Ace to let him get a check-up, and see if we could get into contact with his owner. Ace was doing alright, except for the fact that he had fleas. We expected that, seeing how long he had been outside. Our vet also called Ace's, or Jip's, as his original name is, owner. She said that she knew that Ace had been walking outside for that long, and that she was happy that someone wanted to take care of him and take him in. We would just have to contact her to change Ace's name, chip number, and phone number so that we would officially own him. We, obviously, were overjoyed. However, I felt it wouldn't be that easy, so, as I said multiple times, "I'll be happy once we actually own him, right now she can still change her mind." And oh boy, I got closer to the truth than I liked.

On Monday morning (7th of October), nothing had changed between Moos and Ace, and it seemed like Moos was just a scaredy-cat. He wasn't. Ace, who looked so adorable, meowing when we would walk past, giving us headbutts, purring just by being in our company, had actually been terrorizing Moos when we weren't paying them attention, or couldn't hear or see them. Doesn't change the fact that Moos is a coward, but it wasn't his fault. We locked Ace back in 'his' room. It hurt, but it was better for Moos.

Also on Monday, my mom called Ace's owner again, and she acted differently. I only heard this story from my mom, I wasn't actually there, so I might not be 100% correct here. Ace's owner said she'd been called by the other woman, who also wanted to keep Ace, and now she wasn't sure who she wanted to give him to. Of course, she was also sad that she would lose such a loving cat, and blamed us for feeding him, as that was supposedly the reason he didn't come home anymore. Excuse you, woman, we only started feeding him LONG after he was already walking outside.

And the other woman blamed us for not allowing Ace to go outside, because it's an outdoors cat and he wants to be outside. The owner agreed, and said that she'd never been able to stop Ace from going outside. I'm sorry, but really? A cat who loves cuddles, laying on your lap, just sitting in front of a window looking at the freaking rain outside and loves to just be a lazy cat, is supposedly an outdoors cat? Yeah right. The owner said she would discuss it with her husband, and we would be called later on in the week with her decision.

Here's where the nightmare started.

Thursday (10th of October) evening, our doorbell rang. We weren't expecting anyone. My mother opened the door, and guess what, it was the other woman that wanted to have Ace. I remember her exact words. "Yeah the owner said we could have him, so we're coming to get Jip." Nothing. No call, no message. Just sending the other woman to get him. Coward, you owner. Guess she was too afraid to call us with her decision. Understandably, if you ask me, my mom closed the door on her. It was too sudden, we didn't have ANY warning. I hope you understand that I was shaking at this point, we were about to lose the cat that I'd gotten attached to. The woman tried to stop her from closing the door! Like, heck, you don't just try to break into someone's apartment.

Seeing as Ace's room was right next to the door and they could see him through the window, we decided to let him into the living room with Moos. The stupid cat made a massive leap onto our bookcases. Those things are over 2 meters tall. That's taller than I am. And the worst part, he was about to jump behind them. There's no way he'd have gotten back up, and we wouldn't have been able to reach him. Luckily we got him off by feeding him. (Also this wasn't important for the story, just wanted to share this)

After a while we got called by the owner. She said that she had decided to give Jip to the people that lived in our street, whilst the other people lived in a different street, so we were confused for a second. However, the site where we found Ace's owner's phone number now had a different one, so we assumed that she had already changed it to the other woman's' number. The owner got annoyed at us and said she was done with us and would send the police after us because we were holding her cat. 1. The police wouldn't go out this late at night because there's a cat nice and warm indoors even if it isn't the home he's supposed to be in, 2. It's not her cat anymore after she abandoned him and actually already gave him to another person.

Really, however, because of the stress we were in we didn't really think logically, and since my mom wasn't sure whether we should keep Ace in first place, seeing as he didn't get along with Moos, we decided to do the only thing we could in that situation. Also she wasn't going to risk getting the police at her door late at night with two children in the house.

We were going to put Ace outside. It broke my heart. We didn't have a choice. We went downstairs and put him down, and opened the door. Ace willingly walked outside.

We closed the door and went upstairs. We texted the new owner that Jip was outside and she should go and get him, and the Humane Society (animal welfare service) will probably pick him up soon.

Today, (Friday 11th of October), I haven't seen Ace outside. I miss him.

I'll keep updating this, because I hope this isn't the end of this story.

P.S. I wrote this yesterday, that's why it says 'Today'.

Update!

So, you remember I said they would move, right? I'm afraid they did. I didn't go outside the entire weekend so I didn't know if they moved. Welp, my mom told me that she saw a moving truck near the other people's house whilst I was in school last Friday (11th of October). I'm afraid I'll never see Ace again...

Update 2

Haven't seen Ace since I saw his tail slip through the back door... I still think of him every day, and miss him. I'm pretty sure I saw his new owner today (30th of October) when I was shopping for shoes. I looked up and got face to face with her youngest daughter. That startled me. I mean, I know they moved, but I also know that it's still the same town, so it's not surprising that I would run in to them when shopping. I wonder how Ace is doing in his new home...