OK, I'm back with a couple of updates..
Being of all-white fur, ol' puss is otherwise pink ( or white, when cold) skinned..
& I had to take him to the vet surgery for an operation to remove a skin cancer,
from his face, it was steadily growing between his eye & ear..
Poor fella came out looking like Dr Frankenstein had done the cutting/suturing..
& he absolutely hated having the plastic funnel-like protective collar in situ.
I was supposed to ensure he stayed inside, but as a dedicated outside cat, he
let me know he wasn't going to stay indoors for long..
( & he has never been destructive to furniture, but quickly got my attention - by clawing it)
He tried hard, to shake the plastic collar off, & by levering it against fence posts, to no avail,
but after about a week, I busted him rubbing his face up against an outside tap/fawcett..
..so I removed both the collar & huckery looking sutures..
The affected side is healing remarkably rapidly, & with the shaved down fur growing back,
he just has a quizzical expression/Siamese cat slanted eye look, which seems even stranger,
since he has one blue eye, & one yellow/green eye..
I had a report about him from the neighbour - who habitual gets up at dawn for a brisk walk..
he reckoned he'd seen ol' puss in the grounds of the local hospital, about a kilometre away,
hunting rodents..
& a couple of days ago the cat showed up with a slash cut right across the top of his shoulders..
..he didn't seem too bothered about it,