Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Big Boy
I have not posted lately about the ‘Cat with No Name’. Well, he has a name now! I call him Big Boy.
In the almost two years since he found us, we have come a LONG way. The name of the game with Big Boy is stability & patience! I have no idea how old he is, or what he went through in his life before us, but it has made him extremely frightened of people, yet wanting a home and love!
It seems like everything with this Big Boy has been difficult and problematic!
He was neutered, and that has cooled his jets a lot. Even that was a problem as he got a severe wound infection! But without all that testosterone, some of our problems have been eliminated or mellowed.
I can now count on seeing him either at the patio door, or laying on the patio rail first thing every morning, waiting to come in. Though I keep dry cat food and water outside for him, I have the GOOD dry cat food inside, and he has to come in to eat it! Ditto the toys and catnip!
After a bite to eat in the kitchen, and a good romp with a catnip toy, he lies under a dining room chair, watching the ‘inside’ world, often it seems to me, in puzzlement!
Like The Sisters, he likes being talked to and his presence acknowledged. But after all this time, I still can not ‘touch’ him, unless I sneak up on him and pet him while he’s asleep, which I try to do daily. (Therefore, he has FLEAS, as I have not yet been able to apply Advantage! Nor has he had his ‘shots’.)
Then it is off for a little mid-day nap, in the middle of my bed! (I now toss an old blanket over my bed as soon as I get up, just for him.) For the past three months, I have been trying to get him to ‘nap’ with me and The Sisters. He would have NONE of it. As soon as I got in bed, he would jump off, and cry to go out. Gradually, I have been letting him cry longer before getting up and letting him out.
BUT TODAY, YES! I got into bed, he cried for awhile, then he jumped up on the foot of the bed and stretched out for a nap!!! I was thrilled… Another ‘battle’ won through patience and love.
He goes in and out several times a day, and just after dark, he goes out for the night. The exception being in very bad weather and then he stays in much later. Now though, if it is pouring rain, I can go to the door, call ‘here kitty, kitty, kitty', and he comes running! (Another accomplishment!)
There are times when I think that Big Boy has been feral, or at least an ‘outside’ cat all his life. Such as, he hasn’t the slightest idea of what the littler box is for!!! But, he is not stupid! Three times in the past year, he has left me a ‘present’; all three times, right in the middle of the bathroom floor, once a big puddle of urine, and twice a pile of poop. Obviously he can ‘smell’ that that is the place to ‘take care of business’; perhaps he will eventually catch on.
In the mean time, all I can do is be patient with him, and love him. I really have no other choice, as he seems to think The Sisters are his ‘pride’, a sentiment shared by them!
In the almost two years since he found us, we have come a LONG way. The name of the game with Big Boy is stability & patience! I have no idea how old he is, or what he went through in his life before us, but it has made him extremely frightened of people, yet wanting a home and love!
It seems like everything with this Big Boy has been difficult and problematic!
He was neutered, and that has cooled his jets a lot. Even that was a problem as he got a severe wound infection! But without all that testosterone, some of our problems have been eliminated or mellowed.
I can now count on seeing him either at the patio door, or laying on the patio rail first thing every morning, waiting to come in. Though I keep dry cat food and water outside for him, I have the GOOD dry cat food inside, and he has to come in to eat it! Ditto the toys and catnip!
After a bite to eat in the kitchen, and a good romp with a catnip toy, he lies under a dining room chair, watching the ‘inside’ world, often it seems to me, in puzzlement!
Like The Sisters, he likes being talked to and his presence acknowledged. But after all this time, I still can not ‘touch’ him, unless I sneak up on him and pet him while he’s asleep, which I try to do daily. (Therefore, he has FLEAS, as I have not yet been able to apply Advantage! Nor has he had his ‘shots’.)
Then it is off for a little mid-day nap, in the middle of my bed! (I now toss an old blanket over my bed as soon as I get up, just for him.) For the past three months, I have been trying to get him to ‘nap’ with me and The Sisters. He would have NONE of it. As soon as I got in bed, he would jump off, and cry to go out. Gradually, I have been letting him cry longer before getting up and letting him out.
BUT TODAY, YES! I got into bed, he cried for awhile, then he jumped up on the foot of the bed and stretched out for a nap!!! I was thrilled… Another ‘battle’ won through patience and love.
He goes in and out several times a day, and just after dark, he goes out for the night. The exception being in very bad weather and then he stays in much later. Now though, if it is pouring rain, I can go to the door, call ‘here kitty, kitty, kitty', and he comes running! (Another accomplishment!)
There are times when I think that Big Boy has been feral, or at least an ‘outside’ cat all his life. Such as, he hasn’t the slightest idea of what the littler box is for!!! But, he is not stupid! Three times in the past year, he has left me a ‘present’; all three times, right in the middle of the bathroom floor, once a big puddle of urine, and twice a pile of poop. Obviously he can ‘smell’ that that is the place to ‘take care of business’; perhaps he will eventually catch on.
In the mean time, all I can do is be patient with him, and love him. I really have no other choice, as he seems to think The Sisters are his ‘pride’, a sentiment shared by them!
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