This post is not about technology nor teaching, but is certainly about learning. Learning how to turn terrified cats into happy confident feline friends. A big learning curve for me: these nine-year-old siblings have been with us for 13 days and have spent most of their time hiding in our bedroom cupboard. The picture you see is the only picture we have of them, taken at the Mayhew Animal Home in North London, on my second visit.
There was a sense of urgency when we met Robbie and Jackie (now renamed Sasha and Nina). Those two black and white bundles were not moving at all – not eating or drinking during the day at all – and were only leaving their shared bed at night. It felt that they were the ones in most urgent need to be re-homed. And we were a good match for them: our house is quiet with no children running around.
Our only prior experience of owning a cat – although following a personal life-long fascination with cats – was of a wonderful tabby cat we named Cato. Also a timid, he turned out to be the most loving and affectionate cat. Losing him a few weeks ago after eight years together was rather a blow and we hoped that Sasha and Nina would help us somehow while we would hopefully help them in return.
Cato had spent four years in our local rescue centre – a horribly long time!- and had been accommodated in a shed and allowed to roam their grounds after staff had despaired to find him a home. And this had done the trick: he had finally opened up to people (but on his terms) and most definitely had chosen us on that now memorable first visit. But Cato had gone from terrified cat to a cautious timid cat before we had met, whereas Sasha and Nina hadn’t: all they had known (as far as we were told) was one owner who had recently died. So what I picked up were two very scared cats who had lost their home and human friend in a short space of time.
To me, it seemed that they would need time to settle down, and we figured we also needed time to come to terms with losing Cato. So off I went to pick them up one afternoon two weeks ago.
This post (and the upcoming posts) is a personal account of this experience.
The journey in the cab took 40 minutes (only Sasha meowed once) and I took them straight upstairs to our bedroom. I’d prepared a ‘safe place’ in a cupboard: a duvet covered with a blanket with the door propped so it couldn’t shut. Sasha saw the dark cupboard right away and made a dash for it. Then I opened Nina’s box and she didn’t see the cupboard and went to look out the window, briefly followed by her brother. This was my first glimpse of both of them as I’d not really had a good sight of them in the Home (they were both buried deep in their bed trying to stay out of sight).
Sasha then showed her the way to the cupboard and they disappeared completely. That was 5 pm and they did not move an inch until midnight when Sasha made a move out. My guess is that he waited for us to go away (as people did in the Home) but when it looked like we weren’t leaving he decided to come out. At 1 am (yes, I couldn’t sleep…) Nina showed her face in the cupboard doorway and finally got out. And they explored the house in search of food, I guess, water and loo. All was at hand in the bedroom but they quickly left to search for a way out. Fortunately water, food and litter were also available downstairs.
They spent their first night in a house for the first time in weeks and I felt overjoyed that they could.
At 1.30, still not sleeping I quietly made my way downstairs and sneaked under a blanket on the sofa. They were making quite a bit of noise upstairs in the office, jumping on and off the desk, and coming downstairs to the loo and then returning to their den and out again. I had no earplugs and didn’t sleep much but it was good to see that, although extremely fearful, they were stretching their legs.
This was the first step: get familiar with their new surroundings, get to know this new territory, and then they would gradually get used to us, I hoped.
The following three days were identical, except that the night shift started at 10 pm the second night, and lasted until later in the morning on the third night. On the morning of the second day they were both downstairs at the same time, one of them catching sight of me on the sofa. Sasha seemed a bit braver but I was careful not to make any movement – I just said hello to him softly. And he dashed up. On the morning of the third day Nina caught sight of me on the sofa and again I said hello to her softly but and she dashed back upstairs.
So these were small but definite improvements: our invisible cats still had a long way to go. I figured that they needed to: 1. Know that they are safe in the cupboard and that the food is good (cat tuna food is already a favourite);
2. Next start to tolerate us;
3. Then to relax around us, and see that we’re fine (a bit jump forward);
4. Then to tolerate that we approach and touch them (one of them needs to go to the vet in 10 days!);
6. Around then they will hopefully start going out in the garden (if they can change from nocturnal to diurnal lifestyle).
7. And hopefully a bit of happiness will emerge after a while.
Although we’ve only had glimpses of them we are already quite attached to them and we hope we can help them relax and become happy.