Murgatroy would work (though I thought it was Murgatroyd that Snagglepuss always mentioned ;) ). Of course, Stalker would work, too (might be appropriate given the situation in California where the humans are pushing into the mountain lions' territory and then are upset when their pets, and occassionally they, themselves, are stalked by these same cats). Given how quietly big cats move, "Softpaw" could also apply - and who'd connect that name with a guy whose hands are hardened from farm work?
Eh, there are others of us, here, that live in Texas, too (in my case, "American by Birth, Texan by Choice"). Heck, I used to live in Waco (retaurant that was down the street catered out at his place a number of times) and it's not that big (I swear it has a "rush minute", not a "rush hour") and worked at the field AF1 uses there. I reckon we disagree on politics, considerably, and I'm going to try and keep mine out of my replies.
Author's response
Softpaw sounds better than any I could come up with, and there haven't been many suggestions. I guess I'll go with that one.