You really had Pumpkin euthanized?

This is upsetting.

Rhonda

John Sandy wrote:

I have 2 stray male (and neutered) cats that my grandkids names Cutie
Pie and Whiskers. When they appeared about 2 years ago with their
mother in my back yard and stuck around, I contacted the local Cat
Coalittion who came out and caught the kittens (but we never could catch
Mom). Now the policy of the group is to release the strays where they
were caught, so they were released in my back yard - the two males and a
female the kids called Pumpkin because they showed up around Halloween
time and she was an orange tiger. Well, Mom soon left leaving the 3
with me and I of course continued feeding them. Mom showed up twice
more with litters of 2 kittens each time. I figured I did'nt need 5 and
later 7 strays in the neighborhood, so I got traps myself and caught the
kittens which I took to the shelter (I felt they were young enought to
get adopted). I finally caught Mom and took her to the shelter, where
she was either adopted or put down.

Within a short time, Pumpkin, lost all fear of me and would let me hold
her, etc. She however would not 'stay' in the garage in a bed I make
for her. The two males continued to avoid me. All went well for a
while and then the two males started attacking Pumpkin when she would
show up for a meal. She began to come around only at night and would
come in the house and eat. One day she showed up with a terrible gash
on the underside of her throat. I was able to take her to the vet who
said her wound was not the result of a fight with the other two cats or
with a racoon or shunk but was a medical problem and would need to take
medication on a regular basis. Well that was not possible so I paid to
have her euthanized. This left her 2 brothers. I have noticed a
behaviour which really surprises me and am wondering if anyone has an
explanation.

Cutie (an orange tiger) will often be waiting by himself on the deck in
the back yard for food in either the morning or evening (I feed them
twice a day). I'll put food out for them (two bowls) and then 'signal'
Whisker (a gray/black tiger) by rattling a metal cage that's associated
with security for my sliding glass door that leads out to the deck. It
makes a noise and sure enough Whiskers will soon be bounding over the
wooden fence separating my lot from either the neighbor in back and/or
on the side. Now as soon as I make the noise, Cutie will sit up and
turn his head to the corner of the yard and wait for Whiskers to show
up. When Whisker gets on the deck, Cutie will walk over to him, smell
him around the head and then the two of them will walk down to the food.
Now if Whisker doesn't show up for a few minutes, in some instances
Cutie will come on down and start eating, but not too often. Now is
this the Alpha Male syndrone or something like that? I have never seen
them fight with each other, but it just blows my mind to watch Cutie kow
tow to Whisker like he does. Now Whiskers is just slightly bigger than
Cutie, but not that much. Both cats are in great shape, definitely not
fat.

Any ideas???
John