OUR NEW CAT

 

Please welcome our new cat, a 2 year old neutered male brown tabby. His foster name was Big Fuzz which we switched to our current working name of Buddy. This guy has had a tough life. He has a notched ear indicating that he might have grown up feral and had been part of a catch, neuter, release program. He was rescued from a hoarder house where according to his foster mom, he was bullied by other cats and had little human interaction. His safety defense was to hide. He currently resides in a space between the basement foundation walls and the rafters. After a week, he began to feel confident enough to come down to a shelf barely in reach to receive scritches. Within a few days later, he came down further on top of a bench that is about hip high. We have discovered in the past 2 days that he will come to the bottom of the stairs and mew-which we can hear in the Great Room while watching a movie. A funny new activity is that he will come up to the stair landing where C has laid out food and mew. C goes out and sees him poking his head around the corner. Sometimes we will hear him mew and when we investigate, he has run downstairs. It's as if he enjoys a snack and mews to thank us. He's a polite lad-we have noticed that he is v carefully about keeping his claws sheathed when we handle him. It's gonna be a process with this guy and we hope in the end, he will feel comfortable and safe with his humans and enjoy a good life.

PS. This evening marked an Apollo mission event for Buddy: he came upstairs. Not only did he stay in the kitchen for a snack but he came and explored the library and Great Room! He probably saw the first fireplace he had ever seen, jumped up on both the couch and loveseat, visited both C and I as we lay by the fire watching a movie. He systematically checked out the corners and chin rubbed (scent glands) as much as possible. Mine! I claim this to be mine! He did the same to C as she stood beckoning him in the library, he came up and tail brushed her leg. All the while, he was quite vocal mewing constantly. I read this as kitten behavior-when they begin to venture from their Mum, they vocalize I think to serve as a beacon. A change in pitch or frequency will alert Mum-Mum! I'm scared! Mum, come help! Mum! I'm lost!