Pudge

 The story of Pudge started twenty years ago at the Coors Brewery. My workmate, Genice, and I had been told by some of the workers out in the grain silos, that they had been seeing a cat in the building, but had been unable to catch it.  

Eventually, they were able to catch the cat and I got a frantic phone call telling me I needed to come out into the production area immediately. Larry, the cat catcher, told me he had caught a ferocious wild cat. Now they needed me to do something about it.

Thinking we were going to be dealing with a feral cat we brought a cardboard box and some gloves along, hoping that we would be able to get the cat into the box without getting injured.

When we got to the room where the cat had been captured, we saw a steel 55 gallon drum with a sheet of expanded metal laying on the top of the drum and on top of that expanded metal was a large piece of equipment to weigh down that expanded metal. For a split second I was very worried about what was going to be inside that drum. Larry had made sure that nothing could escape from inside that drum.  Larry had an unnatural fear of cats I think.  I don't think a mountain lion could have escaped from that set up.

When I looked inside that steel drum, I saw a tiny grey striped kitten. Genice still remembers me blurting out "OH FOR GAWDS SAKE!!"  I took the weight and the screen off and reached down into the barrel, barely able to reach the tiny kitten.  I brought him up, and he immediately snuggled into my arms, hiding his face in the crook of my elbow.  He stayed that way as we walked back up to our offices. 

Genice found some coffee creamers in the lunchroom and we made a home for Pudge in a box in my office and gave him the milk and some water.. The word spread fast and we were very popular. Pudge had many visitors. 

Genice said she would take the kitty home and work on getting him adopted. As it worked out, Genice's sister had a friend Mark who was happy to take the stray kitty. Mark gave the kitten a wonderful home, and named him Pudge as he quickly gained weight as he adapted to good food and a safe home.

This week, Genice called to say that Pudge had died at age 20.  The last few years, Pudge & his owners had retired to Southern California.  Not bad for a ferocious wild animal captured in the grain silos building at Coors all those many years ago.

RIP little Pudge.🐈‍⬛♥️