Rhett was born feral. He was discovered in the colony at about 5 weeks of age. He was toddling around the colony trying to get to the food bowls. The adult cats weren't at all thrilled with him and usually hissed when he approached the food bowls near them.
It was unknown if Rhett's mom was part of the colony or if he had been abandoned. One of the adult cats sort of looked after him now and then but when she disappeared from the colony he seemed to be on his own.
I watched him one night and realized he wasn't really getting near the food dishes at all. And, his mouth was so tiny that even if he did get near them I wasn't sure he could chew the pieces of food. I decided to try and get some canned kitten food into him. This was easier said than done. I put the food in a dish and tried to put it in front of him. But, he was afraid of me so he ran away. So, I moved the food and he moved again. This went on for a while until I finally herded him to the food. He started chowing down when he finally figured out what I was trying to do.
The next day we went through this process again. This time it didn't take so long for me to herd him to his food dish. The hardest part was keeping all the adults away from it. On the third day I put his food down near the rest of the bowls and he went right to it. This time I decided to see if I could touch him while he was eating. We played a little game of tag as I reached to touch him and he moved away but he finally let me scratch his back as he ate. Then I decided to try to lift him up. I picked him up and put him back down again and he went back to eating. So, I went to the car and pulled out a cat carrier I had brought. I picked him and his food up and put them in the carrier and took him home.
He was 5 weeks old and 1.5 pounds when he arrived at my house. He had goopy eyes and internal parasites. I was giving him Albon, and antibiotics by mouth and putting eye ointment in his eyes each day. He spent the first few weeks living in the carrier in my apartment bathroom until I was sure he was over whatever ailed him. I didn't want him to have contact with my cats and spread the problems to them.
Once he was cured of all his ills I decided it was time to let him get to know the other cats in the house. One day I opened to door to leave the bathroom and Rhett came rushing out and headed straight towards my 17 pound alpha male cat, Onyx. Onyx didn't know what to make of this little orange creature rushing at him. He lept straight up into the air and took off the other direction.
Most of the cats wouldn't have anything to do with Rhett at first but, Ashlar took the little guy under his wing and played surrogate dad. He used to hold Rhett down and groom him. Now that Rhett is up to 20 pounds he's usually the one holding Ashlar down and grooming him.
As he began to grow Rhett appeared to be all ears. At 9 months I had to take him off kitten food since he appeared to be racing to outgrow the adult cats. He has definitely won that race as he now is the largest cat in the house.
Rhett was supposed to be placed in a good home with a loving person. That person wasn't supposed to be me. But as I nursed him to health and watched him grow I found that I couldn't part with him. I was so attached that I'd ward off potential homes that were sent my way. I finally just gave up and admitted he had a home with me.
Oh, Rhett's original name wasn't Rhett. It was Red. I needed something to call him at the colony while I was trying to get close to him and since he was orange tabby and orange is referred to as "red" in cat show circles...I started calling him Red. I morphed that into Rhett later as I was getting to know his personality. His full name is Rhett Butler and it fits him perfectly since he can alternate from charming kitty to scoundrel with ease.