Look at the difference in this little guy.
He is actually curled up in my arms, in my bed, sleeping.
His head was on my chest, but the camera distracted him.
I am truly amazed and am impressed with his progress, daily.
He was in the window sill in my room, clearly ready for some nappy time,so I thought perhaps he would like to nap with me, and he did!
I can't tell you how happy I am to see him relaxed and content.
He was so scared when he moved in, he hissed and growled every time I walked in to the room.
He spent a couple of weeks in my bathroom, I started by feeding him babyfood to get him to come close to me, and after a while he was happy just to have the company.
He responded well to touch, he was almost immediately soothed by petting once I got past his hissing.
Then he just wanted to play.
The tub became his safe room where he could play with his toys, I could move the laser pointer and the cat dancer and throw him his ball. After a while he would come over and want to be petted in there too.
Once we cleared up his medical issues,
he was ready to move out of the bathroom and interact with my cats.
Blogspot was not cooperating much over the past couple of weeks, so if you want to see more pics or see videos of him wrestling with Eko and Tigra, go to my flickr page or youtube and search for nyseiler.
Scotty abandoned at NYCACC as a stray. He was a scared little guy and he received a behavior rating of "moderate". This means he was not allowed into adoptions and just sat in a cage collecting germs until he had a terrible URI (upper respiratory infection). Then, he was sick and made his way to the euthanasia list.
He was rescued, and was adopted with his friend Sammy, but shortly after he was returned because he was "not friendly". In fact, they named him "Bummer." Grrr.
He had a rough start and no-one really gave him much of a chance.
So every day that he trusts me a little more is a success.
He is a loving, sweet kitten who loves to play with my cats, and now loves snuggling with humans.
Hopefully, soon, he can charm someone else who will love him and give him a forever home.
The whole shelter system does not support realistic behavioural assessment so many animals end up being killed because assessments are unrealistic and take no account of the fear and trauma animals experience just by entering the shelter. Thank you for saving this little fella, he's a good cat. All cats are good cats, given a chance.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Yes, it seems the "assessments" are more convenient than realistic. I would be scared too if I was trapped in a box with no way out surrounded by strange giants reaching for me and grabbing me by the back of the neck.
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