Well, this did not go as planned (Pet Adoption)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

Poor scared Barnaby!

Who has no idea yet how lucky he just landed. Very much good on you for taking him and Sammy. And yes, Barnaby’s clearly taking some comfort from the presence of and contact with Sammy; and Sammy seems in favor of it also.

I have good friends who tamed an entirely feral adult cat. Took them several years; but he turned into a lap cat.

@bobsmom101, crumpled ears are often the result of tomcat fights, often willingly entered into by the cats with the ears. The edges of ears often get minor injuries in such fights, and the damage accumulates over time.

22

And now B&S have migrated to the third floor. There’s a narrow bathroom off the room (it was formerly a bedroom) with a shower stall, then toilet, then double sink counter along the far wall as you enter, with an alcove under the counter between the two sinks. I put the litter box for that floor into the alcove.

Barnaby is huddled into the back of the alcove, jammed in behind the litter box. Sammy is at the end of the bathroom, lying on a small scatter rug. Neither one moved when I came in to check on them, just stared at me as I talked quietly to them for a few minutes. No hissing, no panicked attempts to flee, so that’s good. One of them had peed in that litter box, and someone (or both?) had eaten most of the Fancy Feast I put down on the second floor a couple of hours ago.

No pix as my upstairs camera’s battery was dead. It’s recharging, so I may be able to get a photo when I check in again on my way to bed tonight.

As thorny_locust said, cats often get cauliflower ears from fights. Another source is chronic ear mite infestation, as the cats constantly scratch at the irritation. That’s how my vet believes my cat Bruiser got his crumpled ears. Here’s a photo of my old guy, also adopted from MRFRS about a year and a half or so ago.

23

I wonder whether that’s why he’s so chill about the arrival of the newcomers — they smell like a familiar place, where he probably hung out with other cats who came and went.

24

Jojo the junk yard cat I rescued has one crimped ear. He was still young at the time and he’s healed a lot but that ear is just wrinkled. He likes me to pull on it gently. He just purrs his raggedy purr.

25

Oh but this makes my heart happy :heart_exclamation: Thank you for taking them in! Poor BA Barnaby looks so scared in that 1st picture, breaks my heart. But the fact that they are eating and exploring a little already I take as a good sign. You may have a house feral for quite a while, but at least he’s letting himself be seen and is looking at you too.

Crossing all things that they’ll thaw quickly when they realize they’ve come to a safe and quiet place with good food and comforting routines!

26

Morning report, complete with surprise! No, not warming up to me, but promising.

All evening when I went up to check on them they stayed huddled together in the wee alcove, although I did observe emptied food bowls on a return trip. The upstairs litter box had definitely been used! An impressive poop and a flood from a bladder that just couldn’t stay shy any longer.

At one point, late, Sammy was out on the scatter rug again, and offered only a tiny hiss when I offered my hand, slowly. He accepted a few gentle one or two finger head skritches, then slunk past me out into the room. I walked out after him as he slunk away, and then I settled into my reading chair. At some point as I was reading (stayed there about an hour) he headed downstairs, and when I went to bed he was back in his original downstairs hiding corner.

This morning, the late-night food servings were cleaned up, there were two pee balls in the lower-floor litter box, and Sammy was back upstairs, back behind the upper box…

And Barnaby! was catloafed! in my reading chair! He stared at me, not moving, as I walked past – within a yard of him! – to the bathroom to check the litter, refresh the food, wash used dishes, and say hello to the huddled Sam-I-Am-Not-Ready-For-This. When I came back out Barnaby had left my chair and tucked himself into the cat cave by the stairs, looking out warily.

Wouldn’t it be a hoot if it turned out to be Barnaby the Brave(r) and Sammy the Scaredy-Cat?

Anyway, I’m encouraged to see this much progress in less than 24 hours.

27

Another step forward.

Checking on B&S, whose appetite is excellent. As far as I can tell, given placement of bowls near where each one happens to be, they’re both eating down to the last lick.

I ofered a finger to sniff to Sammy, who accepted a bit of head skritching, then exited the alcove, so I put more food down and left the bathroom. Got photos of him eating a bit later, then crouched and offered a hand. Sammy walked up to me and accepted! two! back strokes! arching into them! then walked past me into the room. When I followed I was able to coax him to approach again, he arched into two strokes as he faced away, then his head whipped around and I backed off. We did this dance one more time before he put distance between us and made it plain that was it for now.

So! He liked the petting, on his own terms, for a brief time. If I’d persisted I daresay he’d have at least threatened to chomp my rude hand.

Progress!

28

I’m so glad to hear this! I’ve always felt that the best way for me to deal with losing a pet is to give a home to someone who needs it. That’s how I ended up with my girls. I had to have my old man cat put down during COVID and two days later my vet’s office called and said they had a litter of kittens who needed homes and did I want to come see them? Of course I did… and the rest is history.

29

Yes! Taking in a new life (or two) that needs a loving home is such a comfort. A Facebook friend says it honors the memory of the love you lost.

30

That (as you obviously know) is a massively good sign. You’d just been sitting there; that chair must have carried a strong scent of you. And he wanted to sit in that scent.

-– Sammy’s pretty clearly (as I expect you also know) trying to check whether you’ll respect his choice to say Enough.

I think they’re both coming around really fast. I’ve taken in cats who wouldn’t come out from under the bed for three days, except in the small hours of the night with no one else awake to use the cat pan. (I’d put the food and water dishes under the bed.)

31

I have also adopted cats who developed into excellent cuddly pets who hid under a bureau for 3 days. This sounds excellent.

It’s also an excellent sign that they are eating your food and using the litter box.

32

Sounds like solid progress. Good works.

33

Yay!

I smell success.

34

All of this is fantastic!

35

My cat hid under various furniture for a full three months! All due to somewhat bungled capture/transport/delivery issues.

When she finally began to interact she gave me cat scratch fever, had to see the doctor.

On the heels of that, she went into her first heat. Meaning she then got set up for spaying. Which would, of course, require another couple of capture/transport experiences. Plus a surgery and a cone.

She bounced back from that much quicker than I imagined. And she’s a regular snuggle bug now. But it was definitely a journey.

36

Today’s progress report: Barnaby will eat and even lie down and wash his face afterwards when I’m in the room, maybe ten feet away. Sometimes he relaxes enough to let his eyes go to slits. But he still slinks away if I come within a yard or so of him. Sammy is going to be a lovebug, although he still doesn’t fully trust me, but he will come to me for petting. Since the crumpled ears make it harder to read his moods I give him only a short amount of head/jowls skritching and a few strokes down his arching back.

I think long-term the biggest problem with Sammy will be keeping him from hoovering up everyone else’s food and becoming a blob.

37

Barnaby will be noticing that Sammy comes to you and gets patted and then goes away unharmed.

38

I hope so! It makes me sad to see how scared he is. Sammy is still wary at times but he’s definitely coming around. I think inside of a month I’ll have a lap cat. Barnaby… Well, he’ll get as much time as he needs.

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By the way, if any of you can do Facebook, here’s my page, where I just put up three posts with more photos: https://www.facebook.com/laura.graf.395

40

We had that in a recue kitty, he was an only cat of an older woman, who asked her family to take him when she went into hospice, but they took him to the shelter (at least they didnt dump him). Well, he was a grumpy cat, no one would adopt him. But he trusted my wife- but not me, but after bribes of kitty treats, i am now “acceptable”. They get over it, and adopting a “unadoptable” cat is a wonderful thing to do- and you picked TWO!