Feral Central

This is what I have come to be known for some odd reason, not just by those I meet on forums but I've now seemed to be come to be slightly known as it at work now as well. The trio were rehomed a week ago today and are doing very well in their new home I'm glad to say. The women and her son are very happy with them and have sent me an update about them today by email. I may post it later on in a different entry. So with them trio gone I've been feeling horridly empty. The house has been so still and dead. I thought I wouldn't be able to stand it.

So during work one of the vets came up to me, mentioned I had some experience in handling and taming ferals, I said yes I did. She mentioned there were two feral kittens in Recovery (one of several rooms in the shelter), called Abbot and Costelo, three months old that need socialization and was wondering if I was up to fostering them and socializing them so they could be put up for adoption. I agreed, I was overjoyed at the thought of kittens in the house again and kittens with quirks?! Lordy yes! I love animals with quirks, and have been told I have quite the talent in handling hard to handle animals who for some reason really clam down and act wonderfully for me where anyone else will get bitten, scratched, or can't touch them at all. One problem one of the kittens was loose, he was a bolter and when the cage door opened he got the hell outta dodge leaving his brother to fend for himself against the evil human. So I'd wait until he was caught and then take them home.

Friday came, Costelo had finally been caught and returned to the cage with Abbot. The vet that had first asked me to foster them came in once my shift was over to help put them in the carrier and to deworm etc before they left. Well Costelo saw his chance had returned and started bouncing around like a ping pong ball slipped through her hands and was gone. He climbed up inside the backing of one of the cage modules where we couldn't get him. Damn. Abbot was still plastered to the corner of the cage, so we dewormed him and stuck him in the carrier then went to see if we could catch Costelo. There was no way he was coming out of the module, so we rolled it out of the room with him in it as well as the three cats that were housed in the cages of the module so that when he came out he'd have very few places to hide in. They'd call when they caught him so I could take him home as I wasn't going to be back at work until Tuesday.

So Abbot has been here since Friday evening, friday he was hissing, smacking and trying to find a hole to crawl away and hide in when I would come to work with him. I could touch him but he wwas very scared and would continue to hiss and try to crawl away. Sunday was the same, he wouldn't leave his hiding space in the cat tree while I was in the room and would hiss and spit at me when I would move or come near him. He's in the spare room, my room where my computer is, the cat tree is as well as Floof's palace. I spend much of my time in this room so I'm around him daily even if he doesn't like it. Today he's much better, he'll come down from the cat tree, play with the toys, watch the rabbit with such fear in his eyes you'd think that Floof was some Great Dane ready to have him for lunch. And racing around the room like his tail is on fire. He's even meowed for the first time while here.

Under the futon he came out a ways, walked a little closer to me as I sat in the computer chair and gave a soft meow, I barely heard it and thought it was Reyna at the door wanting to come in (not going to happen as he's started sneezing).I heard it again, closer and slowly turned to see him suddenly tense, his eyes grow big and look like he was about to go running for cover. But he stayed put like a solider in the field of war, meowed again softly and started to relax. I moved my hand towards him, almost touched him before he darted off and deserted the battlefield. I have been able to touch him several times today however without him hissing and he's even now started to purr and knead while I stroke him under his chin (his favorite spot it seems). While writing this I've stopped to reach over inside the cat tree and stroke him adn he's rolled over on his back and started to knead the air purring ever so softly as if he's afraid I'll hear it and find out he really does enjoy the attention. Silly Abbot, he's a cutie, and I think he'll come around nicely if not 100% then at least 90% and be adoptable. He'll need an experienced owner though as I'm sure he'll always be somewhat fearful of humans. But lets see if he'll prove me wrong.

Caught playing last night when I had Reyna and Bosco in the room. He really loosened up when they were in the room.





What I looked over to while writing this entry.

His first day here, very scared and hissing/spitting. He'd been hissing/spitting and trying to crawl away from the camera for about 5 mintues before I could get a halfway decent picture of him. Looks very scared.