Uno

Who would have thought that an overnight trip to Deep Creek Lake, which was to be a quick getaway for my husband and myself, would result in the addition of another cat to the household? But, as my family is quick to remind me, any trip I take out of the house can result in a search and rescue for animals. We decided to drive around the lake before stopping at our lodging. We spotted a Chicago Uno Pizza Restaurant and decided that a pizza would be good for dinner.

Walking up the steps of the restaurant, I looked inside to see if there was much of a wait. A tap on my shoulder by my husband, Geoff, brought my attention to a nearby planter. There he was, curled up in a ball at the front door, watching all the people go in and out. Of course I stopped to pet the young cat, but he was shy and didn't want us to touch him. The look in his eyes told me he was trying very hard to be friendly -- he just wasn't sure.

I immediately grabbed the hostess, forgetting about a table and a pizza; I had to know about the cat in the planter. She told us that he was a stray, the staff fed him and he lived under the porch. His diet included anchovies, pizza, and other "people food." She told us no one could touch him, many people had tried and he would only let them get so close then run off.

I was totally unprepared to rescue him. Humane trap, carrier, towels, food, everything I needed for catching him in my garage at home. The manager came over to the table to see what our plans were for the cat; apparently the entire Uno staff fed him and kept a watch out for him. We had to convince the manager that we were OK people for the cat!

The next morning started with a trip to Wal-Mart; we needed supplies! We armed ourselves with everything for a rescue, confident that little "Uno" would be easy to catch and on his way home with us in no time.

Uno was sitting on the deck watching the lunch crowd, apparently some nice people had fed him breakfast, probably some sort of Italian dish, as he was cleaning himself and very much at ease. There went plan #1 of hungry cat walking into carrier to get food. Plan #2 didn't exist, so Geoff and I just stared at each other and thought, "Now what?" We tried the quiet approach, Uno took off. We tried the sit still and let the cat approach us. Uno just stared at us. We tried the grab cat approach; Uno ran under the deck. Feeling desperate, I just didn't know what to do. It was late afternoon and we needed to head home. Finally my husband tried another approach, the walk up to cat and just pick him up and put him into the carrier. It worked! Uno let Geoff gently pick him up. Without incident he went into the carrier -- I closed the door and Uno settled in. He was safe at last.

As I write this article, Uno is curled up asleep on our sofa. Our first thought was to get him to the vets and then adopt him to a loving home. We accomplished the first part but decided we had already found him a loving home. He definitely seems to enjoy it here, his only complaint: "Where's the PIZZA?!"