About Gus

Gus, aka Fatbird, is the other member of our immediate family. He's an outdoor pet and a very well fed one, owing to me. He really likes hot dogs, bacon fat rollups and chicken carcasses. Every day he waits patiently on the seawall for me to throw him some leftovers. He never squawks like the other gulls he just quietly clucks to let me know he is hungry. Which is just about always. Occasionally he goes out with the flock to fish or hit some of the other "marks" along the shore but he always comes back here because he knows who will treat him the best.

Its a symbiotic relationship we have. Gus is like the Godfather of Gulls, highly respected among the flock but always wary of contenders to his position. So our unspoken but mutually understood arrangement is that I feed him and he keeps the other gulls away from our house. Seagulls have a tendency to perch on the crests of roofs with their butts hanging over decks so you can see the problem. But its not a problem at our house. Thanks to Gus.

Now Gus and the cats were never really tight but they all had a mutual respect for one another and they understood they were all part of our family. In a very touching moment during Rasta's final days while he was sitting atop his scratching post gazing out the window, Gus made an unprecedented appearance and perched upon the deck rail, he and Rasta just quietly nodding at each other. It was as if Gus was saying "I feel your pain, buddy".



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