I’m so thrilled with the progress I’ve made with Stripes. Ever since the beginning, even when I first thought I would only be able to BARELY befriend Tiny, I was struck by his intelligence, how communicative he was, how physically able, cautious but incredibly confident, and highly independent he was; he was the one that if I was going to only take one of them with me after I left the apartment complex, I felt would be both the one I would like to have as my bud the most and which would be the most able to be separated from the group. As Tiny kept a given minimum modicum of friendship with me and Mamacat became close with me, he has remained fairly cautious and unwilling to engage, yet had been the most confident with me moving around near him without frightening him as well as the most respectful when he is in the house. Not too long ago I was finally able to begin playing “fingernomz” with him, being as he still did not understand/trust petting, even as he watched me pet Mamacat, yet felt comfortable enough to begin minor play that did not put him directly under my hand/influence. However a few nights ago he suddenly, for the first time ever, came up to me for pets of his own accord rather than hesitantly accepting a few before hopping away on account of thinking it was necessary to get food. This was a sudden and total turning point and he seemed to immediately understand my intentions and now is very actively desirous of pets and play with me in general. He has always been the most helpfully intuitive of the family of stray cats, and all I have to do is murmur something in a given tone of voice and look in his direction and he IMMEDIATELY understands whether I am encouraging or discouraging him from doing something……..and respects my wishes; even though he seems to be the most curious, he will even curb his curiosity in wanting to go new places that interest him if I express a single quiet discouragement. When he was first let into the house I tried to force increasing engagement with him, and he started to be a big punk, being the most independent of them all, respecting my wishes the least. However I quickly remedied that having an understanding of that type of personality, being the same myself, and ever since I have continually showed him that basic respect, he has become closer and closer with me. Tiny may sometimes stay in the house longer than the other cats before leaving, but it is only to play with the toy and she BEARS my presence, not enjoys it, whereas Stripes would often be the last to leave but would just choose to hang around near me and watch me quietly with interest in whatever I was doing. He is getting to an age where very suddenly his mother doesn’t want to play with him any longer, and indeed gets quickly frustrated by him (Tiny has FOREVER been very dainty and doesn’t want to play with others, if she becomes engaged in a friendly manner by Stripes she will quickly turn the play vicious, having so little confidence and thus ability to play nice), and also where as a maturing male, even not the dominant one (Ox/Dadcat is) of the group, he has become expected by Mamacat to wait for everyone else to eat first. Even in this, just as in how he is highly respectful of me in the house, he is much more respectful than his Dad who often loses patience and tries to chomp down big mouthfuls of food before getting beat in the face by Mamacat, yet Stripes sits right by the foodbowl…………..and just sits peacefully and quietly waiting for them all to eat their fill first, even if none is basically left at the end. This is further useful in that it allows me the opportunity, especially with his burgeoning trust in me, to once the bowl is empty if he has gotten to eat very little (which is showing in his figure a little), to hand feed him, which inspires further friendship between us :)
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 21:37:15 +0000
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