Bengal Mania

Please read the whole series! Part 1 is here May 4, 2012

Cold, wet, rainy day. New Kitty was warm, well fed, safe and dry all night. Hopefully we'll make a little progress today. I put in a box for him, but this morning found him at the back of the litter box cave. That's fine too. I didn't disturb him. Poor little boy. He is so afraid. I think he is actually a boy. He's small, but his face looks stocky. I believe I saw some "boy signs" as he was flying around the room, so I think for now I'll call him Black Bart until I can get a better look.

A couple of hours pass...

Oy. Taming the Tasmanian kitty just got about 14 magnitudes harder. Went in to deliver a little bowl of milk and found the door to the walk-in, very crowded costume closet fully open, and Black Bart is nowhere to be seen. He could hole up in there for days..... sigh...... There's food, water and a litter box, but it's now just going to take a huge amount more time to get him accustomed to me without being able to see each other and interact. But I want to hold him and snuggle him and love him NOWWWWWWWW

Black Bart had me flummoxed this morning, before the closet door, as I couldn't find him anywhere in there. All of the windows were still intact. I finally saw a little ear tip as I peered into the covered litter box. I sat down and started talking to him and after a bit I saw a little wary eye come out from behind the cover. At least he seems more comfortable in the closet - he hasn't Tasmanian deviled it. So far, he hasn't ripped apart my really fancy costumes, so.... at least that's a plus. He must feel a lot better in the closet. There is still food, water and litter box out in the bathroom, so he can stay safe in the closet. It just adds a couple more days onto the process. He's got to be in a pretty dark cave way back in there, and that's fine. I check in and talk with him, and we can just wait.

A couple more hours pass...

When I just checked on him, he was out of the closet and had eaten his stinky food. He was ensconced up on the counter again, so I shut the closet and tied it shut so hopefully he won't be able to push the door open again. Gave him more stinky food. He didn't get to the milk so I took it out. I'm just working with the stinky food, plus he has regular food and water too. Not going to shower or use the potty in there. I think running the water would be a sure way to make him do a Tasmanian spin again, and I want to avoid that as much as possible -- it's awful!!

Thankfully, I have another bathroom I can use, so he can stay safe in HIS bathroom as long as he needs. It may very well be that we never get to the "snuggle" part. He might be too feral for that, so we'd get to the "few pets" and the trap/neuter/release bit but then just feed him when he comes around. I've had several here that were just too wild. They'd like a few pets here and there, but wouldn't come looking for them, wouldn't come into the house, but more of "barn cats" kind of thing. I'm hoping he gets to feel loved, but it may just not be in the stars. Of course I'll do everything I can to make him feel comfortable, but in the end, it's his decision.

Have I seen My Cat from Hell? Yes, I've seen that show, but was disturbed by the treatment the owners were showing—slapping the cats and such... It's no wonder the cats don't like them if they smack them like that. Perhaps it was only on the one show I watched, but it was enough for me to not want to try it again. The cat would hiss or swat and the owner would smack back at it.

Uhhh.... duh! yes body language, voice, food, and what you say... that's the way you get them to understand you. I've found what you say especially... People don't think they can understand, but I believe they can. They can at least know the feeling behind the words, so if you're saying nice kitty and feeling apprehensive or fear or dislike, they certainly pick up on that. If you're saying you want to protect them, love them, feed them, and you emit that, it seems to have more weight than a negative reinforcement kind of thing. Plus you don't force them. I haven't tried to pick up Bart yet, as I know he would be afraid. Sometimes a gentle "force" is ok, but not with someone new. Of course, I'm forcing him to stay in the bathroom, so there's some give and take on these rules. The thing I don't like about the bathroom is the number of big windows. Bart doesn't understand windows and mirrors. He keeps smacking into them when he goes Tasmanian. He's even launched himself up INTO the skylight. Yeow! It's impressive and frightening to see. Somehow in all that flying around the room he was doing, he didn't climb up me or hit me or anything, and I was practically in the center of the room, standing as still as I could get until I could run for my life. I'm sure he was probably more secure in the closet, but there was no way I could even know where he was, let alone see him, and too many things he could destroy or get hurt on in there and I might not know if he got hurt and then continued to hide. Out of the closet, he holes up in the covered litter box, or has jammed himself behind my water cooled diamond band saw (Yes, I have a band saw in my bathroom... It's off of my glass-working shop, so... it's more of a shop bathroom, but has my bathtub in it. Has saws, grinders, a bookcase full of tools and such, a big glass rack that thankfully he hasn't flown into.) I go in and spend a few minutes with him every couple of hours, bring him some new stinky food, talk with him..... so far he still just stares at me and stays porcelain.

Even more hours later...

Taking in some raw hamburger to Tasmanian Black Bart kitty. That should curry me some favor.... on second thought, I'll leave off the curry... I said goodnight. He growled. Sigh.

Today was rough. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. COMING SOON - First Signs of Friendship? Thanks for following! Peace, Joy   Tags: abandoned, basement, black, cat, devil, feral, found, kitten, lost, rescue, stray
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