Rajah
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 17, 1999
- Messages
- 9,633
Got home about kitten-dinner time again tonight. After parking the car she immediately poked her head out from behind a car wheel about where I've been feeding her when I've been there, then immediately ducked back out of view when she saw that I saw her and she started mewing. Someone was hungry and recognized the food-bringer. 
So I went upstairs and fed Blaze and Skye then got her food ready and went down to feed her. She was waiting for me at the first car in that stretch of cars.
I put the food down (along with a little cup of water, which she ended up never touching) and sat back about 3 feet away. After much fussing and walking back and forth thinking about it, she ran out and got a bite then ran back under the car to eat it.
When I didn't make any move, she came back out, took a couple of nibbles, then ran back under the car and ate the bites she grabbed.
Still I didn't come after her so she came out and skittishly ate from the plate with me sitting 3 feet away. She looked up and danced away every time I scratched at/swated at one of the ants crawling on me, but after about the third time she stopped dancing away at my simple motions and simply ate.
The only times she ran back under the car after that were when other cars drove by or people came by out of those cars. Again I got some interesting looks, but encouragement when I explained what I was doing. I'm finding out that pretty much all the people that live on the other half of the building we're in are very nice people. This is the first time that I've actually had the chance to say anything more than a nod hello to any of them.
One guy came back out to walk his dog and offered to get me a brighter flashlight if I wanted. Another couple on their way in to their apartment let me know that they heard several small kittens behind the garages about 2 weeks ago -- so now you know of course what I'm going to be doing tomorrow
I bet their mom has moved them since then, but I'm going to do some walking along the back fence to see if I hear anything tomorrow. I'm wondering if they're related to the orange cat that we haven't seen recently.
Anyway, after she had her fill to eat (still left about 1/4 on the plate) and went through her grooming routine, she trusted me enough to come out to the curb next to the car and curl up <i>out in the open</i> to relax. 5 feet away, yes, but out in the open for the first time. She almost played with the flashlight beam, but wasn't quite sure what to do with it and a full tummy said "sleepy, not play" so she curled up.
Is it possible for a cat to cuddle from 5 feet away? Because that's the impression I got -- like she was saying thank you and wanted to cuddle, but didn't dare come closer and the closest she could do was show me some trust by curling up for a semi-nap out in the open in my presence instead of under the car.
Just thought I'd let y'all know that the little torbie didn't hate me, so apparently yesterday didn't knock me back as far as I thought on the trust scale -- as long as I don't bring the carrier out anyway.
I'm debating getting a small feather-toy from the grocery store tomorrow and taking that out to see if she'll play with it tomorrow. Play is a huge bonding and trust-building experience, after all -- but she's wild and I don't know that she'll accept the toy. I don't want to push her even farther back.
I feel much more encouraged tonight -- and I'm positive she can be tamed enough to make someone a good pet. She'll probably never be as cuddly and sweet as Blaze and Skye are, but for a tamed feral she'll be great I think.
So I went upstairs and fed Blaze and Skye then got her food ready and went down to feed her. She was waiting for me at the first car in that stretch of cars.
I put the food down (along with a little cup of water, which she ended up never touching) and sat back about 3 feet away. After much fussing and walking back and forth thinking about it, she ran out and got a bite then ran back under the car to eat it.
When I didn't make any move, she came back out, took a couple of nibbles, then ran back under the car and ate the bites she grabbed.
Still I didn't come after her so she came out and skittishly ate from the plate with me sitting 3 feet away. She looked up and danced away every time I scratched at/swated at one of the ants crawling on me, but after about the third time she stopped dancing away at my simple motions and simply ate.
The only times she ran back under the car after that were when other cars drove by or people came by out of those cars. Again I got some interesting looks, but encouragement when I explained what I was doing. I'm finding out that pretty much all the people that live on the other half of the building we're in are very nice people. This is the first time that I've actually had the chance to say anything more than a nod hello to any of them.
One guy came back out to walk his dog and offered to get me a brighter flashlight if I wanted. Another couple on their way in to their apartment let me know that they heard several small kittens behind the garages about 2 weeks ago -- so now you know of course what I'm going to be doing tomorrow
I bet their mom has moved them since then, but I'm going to do some walking along the back fence to see if I hear anything tomorrow. I'm wondering if they're related to the orange cat that we haven't seen recently.Anyway, after she had her fill to eat (still left about 1/4 on the plate) and went through her grooming routine, she trusted me enough to come out to the curb next to the car and curl up <i>out in the open</i> to relax. 5 feet away, yes, but out in the open for the first time. She almost played with the flashlight beam, but wasn't quite sure what to do with it and a full tummy said "sleepy, not play" so she curled up.
Is it possible for a cat to cuddle from 5 feet away? Because that's the impression I got -- like she was saying thank you and wanted to cuddle, but didn't dare come closer and the closest she could do was show me some trust by curling up for a semi-nap out in the open in my presence instead of under the car.
Just thought I'd let y'all know that the little torbie didn't hate me, so apparently yesterday didn't knock me back as far as I thought on the trust scale -- as long as I don't bring the carrier out anyway.
I'm debating getting a small feather-toy from the grocery store tomorrow and taking that out to see if she'll play with it tomorrow. Play is a huge bonding and trust-building experience, after all -- but she's wild and I don't know that she'll accept the toy. I don't want to push her even farther back.
I feel much more encouraged tonight -- and I'm positive she can be tamed enough to make someone a good pet. She'll probably never be as cuddly and sweet as Blaze and Skye are, but for a tamed feral she'll be great I think.
