A friendly orange cat in his prime, from a trailer park in Nebraska, has almost no teeth left after years without proper care, and none of it slows him down at dinnertime.
Credit: TNR North Platte
Gar had been a fixture at the trailer park for many years, one of those cats everyone knew and few people truly looked after. For the last year or two, a kind woman and her daughter had taken him under their wing, feeding him and keeping an eye on him.
Then life shifted. The two of them are going through a life change and have to move, which left Gar, after all this time, suddenly in need of a home of his own.
His luck had already started to turn, though. Sami Smith and her team of TNR North Platte came to the trailer park in early fall to do trap-neuter-return, and Gar walked right up, as friendly as could be. "He was ultra-friendly, and I could tell that no one had cared for him in quite a while," Sami Smith shared with LoveMeow.
Credit: TNR North Platte
His ears were caked with dirt, and his mouth clearly needed work. Over the following weeks, Gar and Sami became friends, and eventually she was able to rescue him and take him in to see a veterinarian.
The exam confirmed what she had suspected. Gar had spent years with ears full of debris and infection, and his teeth were in rough shape after so long without care.
Gar being rescued from trailer park. #cat #rescuecat Credit: TNR North Platte
The ears were cleaned out and treated, and the dental work was extensive. Several teeth had to come out, leaving Gar with little to nothing left to chew with.
It has made no difference to him whatsoever. "He currently has little to no teeth, but that certainly doesn't stop him from loving his dry food," Sami joyfully shared.
Credit: TNR North Platte
With the hard part behind him, Gar could just be himself, and the first thing anyone notices is his build. He is a strikingly tall, long-limbed cat, the kind who seems to keep unfolding when someone picks him up.
He is also, by every account, one of the easygoing ones, a unique-looking senior who is incredibly sweet and slow to ruffle.
Credit: TNR North Platte
His favorite way to spend a day is really not doing much at all. Gar is happy to stretch out somewhere comfortable and let the hours drift by, an easy cat in every sense of the word.
He is not much for other male cats, though he tends to handle it by keeping his distance rather than making a fuss, as long as they leave him be. Sami thinks he would settle in nicely with female cats, or with younger ones.
Credit: TNR North Platte
Gar loves the outdoors and always has, but that world is no longer safe for a senior cat. After a life spent outside, his new plan is to live indoors.
So this is where Gar stands today. He is vetted, his old aches are treated, and he is as sweet and mellow as they come.
Credit: TNR North Platte
Gar has never made a hard thing of any of it, not the years outside, not the sore ears, not the vet, not the missing teeth.
Through all of it, he stayed the same tall, unbothered, dry-food-loving cat who greets whoever walks up as though they are exactly who he was hoping to see.
Credit: TNR North Platte
From years at a trailer park to a quiet indoor life, Gar has stayed exactly who he always was, a tall, mellow, dry-food-loving cat who is glad to see whoever walks in.
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