Been Here Before

Do you remember Goldie?

Goldie came to Winnie’s Wish from the abandoned Florida hotel.  A small group of that huge feral colony ended up here.  Cheryl (who managed that colony before the hotel was torn down) finally trapped Goldie on the last day of one of our vacations down there.  I anxiously waited for Cheryl on the morning we were pulling out to head home.  She arrived with Goldie in a crate.  We talked, hugged, and then I grabbed Goldie and within the hour she was heading to Illinois with us.

I had NO IDEA at that time that Goldie was 100% deaf.  Cheryl hadn’t known that either.  Of course, I wish I could have taken every cat off that property, but I am SO happy that Goldie was one who became a Wisher.  I cannot imagine how this poor thing was making it on her own.  It’s hard enough to be a feral cat.  But her deafness must have made things even more difficult.  Getting her out of harm’s way was a good thing, but Goldie didn’t know that for a very long time.

 This is an excerpt from a previous post:  Goldie was terrified when she was first put in a cage in my kennel kitten room.  I couldn’t, of course, touch her.  But she was even afraid when I reached into her cage to feed, water, and scoop litter.  This went on for weeks and then weeks turned to months.

 And months turned into nearly a year.  

 

This is a picture of Goldie 11 months after she came here.  She was only just beginning to trust me at this point.

 

BUT -  now my dear deaf Goldie has come to love me deeply.  She begs for attention, she follows me around, she is a perpetual talker.  I can even pick her up now (although she’s not crazy about it). 

 

So here’s why I’m talking about Goldie.   I seem to be experiencing déjà vu.  You were all with me when I FINALLY trapped Neo – the New Elusive One, a tabby male I had been seeing (and trying to get) for nearly a year.  When I got him in December I was overjoyed.  He went into a cage and I started trying to learn about him.  (No worries - he is not deaf. That's not where this is going.)  Unfortunately, I quickly realized that he was not going to come around easily.  He was terrified.  After about three weeks, I knew I was up against an entirely feral cat.  This guy had obviously never had any experience with humans.  At first, he would cower in the back of the covered litter box that I’d made into a hidey-hole for him.  I would watch through a window as he would cautiously ease out and eat his food when he thought I was gone.  He went from hiding from me to trying to scare me away by throwing a paw & claw out at my arm when I would reach in to scoop his box or put in food and water. 

 

When he’d been here for over a month, and nothing was changing, I started to believe that I might have another Goldie.  Not in terms of her deafness, but maybe in terms of the amount of time it was going to take to win Neo over.   It was disappointing.  Oh, how I have longed to love on this guy.  But mostly, it was heart-wrenching because I knew how terribly afraid he must be.  I told him that we have all the time in the world.  And I explained to him that by getting him at the beginning of December, he had already missed two snows and three bouts of wind chill temperatures in the single digits.  He was, however, apparently not impressed as he continued to cower and to lash out.

Then last Thursday, I was working in the next room to his with the door open between the two rooms.  I was scooping litter boxes in that adjacent room and I turned to see this.

 

 

I kept my distance but zoomed in with my camera to get this pic.

 

 

There was Neo just sitting out in his cage with me moving around in the very next room.  I kept talking to the other cats and tried to act like this was no big deal, but my heart was racing.  It was the first time since the night I’d trapped him that I was able to view his entire body.  He had obviously put on weight (as I had suspected).  And how handsome he was sitting there in full view!  My hope was that maybe this was the beginning of a new stage – one where he could at least slip out of his hidey-hole in my presence.

Neo’s cage is in the kennel office.  That room is open to the main kennel area all throughout the day.  Several cats have access to this large area.  Then at night, I have Isis, Quinn, and Sallie in the room adjacent to the office (the kitten room) so that they can be fed special food.  The office is occupied by Goldie and Cole overnight.  So after seeing Neo sitting out in his cage last week, I decided to try leaving his cage door open that night.  He could slip out and move around a little.  Goldie and Cole are completely used to him since they stay in that room with him every night.  I hoped that maybe if this was successful, then Neo could have some roaming/exploration time each night.  If he would cage himself when I went down in the mornings, then I could open that room, as always, to the main area during the day.

Well, it worked.  I flipped on the light in the office about an hour after opening his cage, and here’s what I saw.

 

 

 

So now I could know that Neo was out and about during the overnight hours.  And so far – each morning he is back in his hidey-hole in his cage as soon as he hears me come in the front door.

I’m glad he has space and friends now and is not confined to a cage 24 hours a day.  I still hope that someday he and I might be friends, but what I believe to be more important than that is the fact that he is safe and warm and fed.  His new life is one of luxury compared to how he had been living.  And that is what matters most.

 

Before I close, let me share this.  Winnie's Wish received two gifts in honor of the Betty White Challenge.

 

Andrea - THANK YOU.

 

Karen - THANK YOU.

 

Betty White did so much in life for animals.  And now she's doing so much as she moves on. 

 

 

Comments

[The Poupounette Gang]

It's so lovely to read about NEO's progress. Small steps, but also huge!

[Cassandra B.]

Oh, that's wonderful news! He is safe and warm and can now interact more with his friends.

[John Bellen]

Time and patience are a human’s best allies when dealing with an unsocialized cat. And I’ve noticed over and over that a cat will make the decision to change how it behaves quite suddenly, though I suspect to the cat, it’s been something it’s been considering for a while. The visible result is abrupt to us. Whatever the route, Neo has determining to move forward.

[Andrea and the Celestial Kitties]

Aww so glad Neo is making friends! Next step, people friends!
Yay for gifts and yay for Betty White!

Friends you can still send gifts in honor of Betty or in honor of Neo getting cat friends or in honor of your own kitties! Or even just because it’s so needed there at Winnie’s Wish! Donations and wish list items always appreciated and needed! Thank you!

[Ginny and the Fur family]

Thanks to you, Neo will not be out in the very cold weather tonight - 11 -tonight here. My feral Furghee is just like that. If I touch her she acts like it burns her skin and hisses and climbs to the top of the cat room. Betty white was such an animal lover. I am feeding two strays on the front porch and I wonder where they go on cold nights. I put a house out and no one would get in it to keep warm - their fear is so great. Bless them. Neo is beautiful.

[Joan]

Wow what a thrill for you. He's a very lucky puss.

[meowmeowmans]

Amazing stuff, Chrystal. Thank you for giving Neo the time and love he needs.

[Maria in Fl]

I have to believe that if Neo could really reason, he would KNOW that he is better off warm, safe and fed. Of course, those reasoning powers are limited, and a life on the run, on his own, is all he has ever known. I have great confidence that someday, somehow, he will come around and see you, Chrystal, as his savior. My fingers are crossed for that!!