This is the second of three Polaroid snapshots that I made of my cat, Sneaky, sitting by the back door in the early morning waiting for me to let him in. He was watching birds while he waited! He's looking scraggly now because he's shedding his winter fur.

Sneaky was an abandoned cat in my neighborhood that I took in back in 2018 after he came into my yard and started rubbing against my ankles one night. When I petted him, I could feel that he was skin and bones malnourished under his long hair. I gave him some leftover steak I had been saving to take to my parents' dog, and he began coming back and trying to come in my house. I took him to a vet because he had fleas and wasn't gaining weight despite me feeding him a lot. Turns out that he had tapeworms! After he was treated for the fleas and tapeworms, he gained weight and got a lot healthier. He is a very sweet and affectionate cat.

I named him Sneaky because he kept slipping in the house no matter how careful I was. The vet said to keep him outside for a period of time after the flea treatment to make sure all the fleas were gone, but Sneaky did not want to wait! He still likes steak, and routinely rejects his canned cat food unless I 'season' it by adding some steak. I keep a bag of meat in the fridge for that purpose. Some say he is spoiled!

You can see more of Sneaky on his Instagram page.

6-9-22