Here's the dude:
Things have gone pretty well!
He hid only for about an hour under my bed before emerging. Was still coming off the anesthehia from getting fixed so he was kinda wobbly but interested.
Remains just as sweet as when he was in dire straits. I might almost call him needy with how close he wants to get. He's real careful with his claws I've noticed, and keeps his mews pretty soft.
My cat senses tingled because I was in the kitchen and saw him go back to my room in a hurry. Sure enough I caught him squatting on my grandmother's antique throw rug, ready to take a piss. I picked him up and put him by the litterbox and swished my fingers and, bingo bango, apparently he's house broken.
Roommates cat is not a fan, but then again he's a complete asshole. I've known him on and off for like 15 years, and it took me 3+ years of living around him before he'd let me pet him for longer than a minute without eventually biting me. So I'm not surprised he's not warming up to Frosty. Then again, Frosty isn't respecting his personal space too well and going in to his room and trying to eat his food. Normal cat stuff.
What I didn't account for was the smell though. Hooboy, my apartment is not that big and after an hour or two here, his smell filled the whole place up. Musky and vaguely not quite like pee.
So I was dreading having to give him a bath, because as any cat owner has experienced, cats fucking hate it and will draw blood to avoid it. However he was very good. (And I was super smart and filled a bucket with water from the shower instead of running it with him inside.) He meowed a lot, tried to escape teh shower through the door while I was washing him. Did tag me with his claw once when I was repositioning him. But other than that he was pretty easy about it. Now he's all silky smooth and definitely smells a lot better. Gonna take a few weeks of him cleaning himself to really do the job, I imagine.
He's still a cat of the streets though, and has been at least for a little while. I strolled into my room after coming in from outside, while wearing my long bathrobe and hooded sweatshirt, which makes me look kind of large. I also moved a little closer to normal speed, having kind of forgotten he was there. Up until now I've been moving very slowly and deliberately to not startle him. He saw me come through the door and immediately hissed and ran under my bed. I called to him and he ran right back out, right from one extreme to the other other. So there's plenty of that instinctual street wariness and attitude in him, which makes me think he's spent a little amount of time on the street, despite missing most of the signs of being out on the street. I've brushed out a few small knots of fur, but I think most of that is flea blood, not from any wounds. I'm mighty curious about his background.
Anyways, all in all, it's promising. But this is all still new to him. I've always had indoor/outdoor cats and while I know that being outdoor cats drastically increases their risk of being dead...I dunno. I've always felt bad keeping pets cooped up inside, and even worse when the place is small. Cats who have lived outdoors need lots of stimulation; sitting around sleeping and eating all day and nothing else can tend to make them a little neuoritc in my experience. Being outside and getting to hunt and be the predators they are allows them to get all the crazy shit out of their system so when they come back inside all they want to do is snuggle and sleep. So I'm wondering how he's going to fare when he's explored every inch of the apartment and is well and truly bored out of his skull. His only real stimulation right now is intense cuddle and pet sessions with me, trying to find anything and everything to eat, and getting hissed at by my roommate's cat.
I'll get some toys and w/e but it's on my mind.
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Topic: [MILK] There were 12 eggs here what did you do with them? (Happy thread?!) (Read 16240939 times)