South of the Border!

That is what it felt like out there this morning, in comparison to yesterday.  The temperatures were just above zero, the winds were much less, and no snow coming down.  I saw a few more cats that I hadn't seen yesterday, and cleaned out one of my carrier shelters that was filled with snow covered straw.  I changed the towels that I place for the cats little feet when they stand there to eat and drink the water at all of my spots, all 15 or so of them.  They were snow covered and damp.  Its a nice feeling to pull out a warm towel that I tuck in between my two coats I wear each morning (a zipper hoodie and a zippered vest over that), and place it down for their comfort, for that moment they get to gobble that golden wet food they so love, before it freezes on them.  There are a lot of frozen piles of wet food at each of my spots because they can't eat it fast enough before it freezes.

I had a great day yesterday moving around some of my kitties I've recently rescued.  First, I brought Larry over to my niece Amy's house for fostering.  She texted me while I was still out this morning at 6:30 - it said "Larry is such a wonderful cat, he has such a unique personality."  Made me smile.  My niece has two little girls that just love it when their 'auntie' brings over kitties.  :)  They are so gentle with them (Abby) and Larry was so good with them.

Another gal reached out to me yesterday to foster Sargent, and he will be going to her home after I leave work today.  She has a little doggie not much more than Sargent probably weighs, and I pray its a good match!  Sargent wants and needs the run of a house, he hates being stuck in a room!

I reached out to Kim, the girl who adopted Harold from me last year, because she had a really hard time adjusting to Harold because he would cry a lot, and her kitty Cleo hated him.  But she never gave up.  I asked her to write a little something so that I could share it with Tony, the man who is giving up on Gordie after a week.  She is right, it is super long, but I am sure each and every one of you that has taken on a cat can relate to some of this.  Please read, its worth it!

Hi Janine,

I know this is going to be SUPER long (I tend to get a little carried away when I write), but I think the emails that I sent you back when we were dealing with the "new Harold" really paint the picture of exactly what we were dealing with.  It was pretty miserable the first few weeks...    Harold didn't seem happy, and I certainly wasn't getting much sleep at night...   but we did stick with it, and I am SO GLAD that we did.  The Harold of today is just perfect...    he sleeps with us every night, he is mellow and affectionate, he gets along beautifully with our other 2 females (they torment him, but he just sits back and takes it all in), loves Brady...   you know how much we all adore him.  I always call him "my favorite"...   he truly is the best cat I have ever owned.  The only advice I can give to Gordie's 'dad' is to be patient...    stick with it...    he will come around!!!  Cats just take a while to adjust, especially from coming in off the streets.  I really did not think we were going to make it through with Harold...   from the howling of the first night, to the 2-3 day adventure up in our garage rafters, to the all-night prowling/meowing and sleepless nights...   but that is all a distant memory now, and he really has turned out to be just wonderful.  Gordie sounds like he has a personality similar to Harold's...   I am SURE that with some more time (it took a good month for Harold to fully settle in) that things will work out just fine. 

So...     here is the long, detailed (I actually did delete some parts of it, believe it or not) story of Harold...   BEST OF LUCK to Gordie and his dad...   tell him to hang in there!  It will be all worth it in the end!!!

Kim

April 2 - We kept Harold in the bathroom until Friday evening. We did the thing where their dishes were close together, and they had been sniffing under the door at each other.  He seems to have adjusted to the house just fine. He wanders all over the place, but has certain hiding places he prefers. Unfortunately, one of them is the crawlspace which is unable to be completely blocked off, and he manages to squeeze in no matter what we do to try to barricade it. He spends most of his day in there... comes out to eat and check things out, then goes back in... he comes out for good anywhere between 7 and 9, and then he is in the main part of the house for the night and all the way thru till morning. He follows us around and likes attention, but has not figured out the concept of sitting on laps yet. We just sit on the floor and he comes to us. He does not like being up on the bed or couch at all... jumps up and then right back off. Starting around 10 or 11, he wanders around the house meowing... it's not the crying, lost yowling he did that first night... it's just a little chirp or meow every 2 or 3 minutes, like he is looking for us. But even when he finds us, or we go to him, he doesn't settle down. It's like he can't stand or sit still. Unfortunately, this goes on all night... and I mean, literally - ALL NIGHT. He comes up to the bedroom, and I dangle my hand over to scratch him, and then he's off downstairs to do a lap... then he's back in my bedroom... then he goes downstairs... and so on. The first night, I got up and put him in the bathroom at 1:00... he was fine with that and happy to come out in the AM. The second night, I had to put him in the bathroom at 4:00... last night, I went and slept on the couch at around 1:00... I thought maybe he was lonely and would settle down if I was down there. Nope. Same deal... he would peep at me, come over for a scratch, go toss a toy mouse around or grab a bite to eat, and then start the cycle all over again. Around 4:00, I couldn't take it anymore, so I put him back in the bathroom. NO DICE. He scratched and picked at the door, but did not cry or meow. I let him out around 6:00 and he did his usual morning routine. I do not know what this is all about, or what to do about it, but I am getting a little twitchy from the sleep deprivation!!! It's like he's got his days and nights totally backwards... any thoughts or suggestions? I am at a complete loss. He still seems perfectly happy... purrs all the time, loves attention, eats and uses litterbox, could care less about Chloe and her attitude... I just don't know what to do next.

 

April 4 - Well, we haven't been around much during the day because of school vacation, so poor Harold has been on his own quite a bit. I have been keeping the light in the basement crawlspace on during the day to see if that makes a difference... I could bring a radio and maybe a strobe light down there if it will keep him awake all day... ;) I just got home around 10:00 tonight, and when I walked in the door, he came running from upstairs in a panic (he is still a little skittish) so at least I know he was making his nightly rounds. I followed him downstairs, sat on the floor with him for a few minutes, and then came upstairs to the office, and he followed me. He is laying on the floor right next to me, chirping away... and Chloe is sitting up on the desk growling at him. He gets up every few minutes... wanders around... comes back... I am going to close the door to my bedroom and turn on a white noise machine so I can get some sleep... I will get out the laser pointer and try to tire him out a little bit first! The way our house is set up makes it impossible to close him in any room other than the downstairs bathroom, which (as I mentioned in a previous email) worked for the first several nights and then he got sick of it and scratched and clawed to get out. Even if I could block off the basement (ground level where our family room is), that would prevent Chloe from getting down there where her litterbox is... and I really don't want to start relocating litterboxes! I wish I could give him his own room! I think that would solve everything!

 

April 12 -   He seems to be very comfortable and "at home"...   he still does not like to get up on the bed or couch or our laps.  As much as he loves being petted and scratched, he won't get up on anything to get attention...   we have to sit on the floor with him.   We did manage to block of the crawlspace from the inside, so he can't get in there and hide all day anymore.  However...   he finds little cracks and crevices to wedge himself into.  One day, he was under Brady's bed way back in the corner...   just sleeping...   Another day, we literally lost him for about 8 hours.  We had shut Brady's door at that point (because we didn't want him hiding; we wanted him out and about) and the crawlspace was blocked...   we searched EVERYWHERE and were freaking out...   then, all of a sudden, I turned around and there he was.  We still don't know where he came from.  He goes under our bed now...   it's not in a corner like Brady's, but he still hides under there.  He just does not like being out during the day.  He usually emerges anywhere between 7 and 9pm...  hangs out, follows us around, we play with him...   We go to bed anywhere from 10 to midnight and he is usually fine (and quiet) then.  But, about 2 or 3 in the morning, he starts meowing and wandering around.  That goes on until about 6 or so, when I get up.  He is out and about until 8 or 9, then disappears again.  I am gone until 2 most days, and Billy is in and out all day.  Harold rarely comes out when we are home...   he did come out today around 3 for half an hour or so...  then back to wherever his hiding place is.  He looks out the windows occasionally....   I think I have mentioned that we have 2 sliding glass doors in different areas of the house, and he could care less about them.  We have a large bay window with a wide ledge that he sits on now and then...  not much interest there either.  The window in the bathroom that he was isolated in is still open (just the storm is down and I have a towel on the sill) and he goes in there and sometimes jumps up there and sometimes doesn't.  He doesn't act like he wants to go out...  he's just not interested in much of anything.  He doesn't like (or maybe doesn't understand) the laser pointer...  is afraid of strings and things....   the only thing he seems to really love are his toy mice and fishies with catnip inside of them.  He and Chloe are getting along...  she hardly hisses at all anymore.  The whole meowing in the middle of the night thing is so odd...   it's not even like he is really looking for us...  we have been sleeping with the door closed, and he scratches at it and I ignore him...  he goes away after a few seconds, comes back in 5-10 minutes, and repeats that from about 2am to 6am.  But even in the morning when we are getting ready, he chirps and follows us, but it's not like he stays around us...  he gets a few seconds of attention and then he walks away from us and disappears and eventually comes back.  He is so friendly, but only to a certain extent...  it's weird.  I just want him to sleep at night (so *I* can sleep at night) and be happy...   I don't think he is UNhappy, but it just seems like there is something missing in his life and we can't figure out what it is.

 

April 19 -  ...in the last week or so, things with Harold are going really well! He comes out from his hiding place (under our bed) a lot more often during the day... he even has come to the top of the stairs the last two days when I have gotten home from work! Chloe always runs to greet me... Harold's not quite there yet... but the fact that he hears me come in the door and comes out of his 'safe zone' is a step in the right direction. He and Chloe seem to be getting along much better also. She rarely hisses at him now, and when she does, it is totally out of the blue. They must like being around each other, because if I am upstairs, and come down to the kitchen or living room, they both trot up from our lower level (family room) together. Or sometimes I will look down the stairs into our living room, and they are both laying there... several feet apart, mind you... but in the same vicinity. There have been a few mini-chase sessions... usually only across the living room, or under the dining room table... but last night, they were really getting into it! Up the stairs, down the stairs... skidding around the kitchen floor... all over the place. They were also 'playing' in Chloe's box (one of her all-time favorite places). It's just a Xerox paper box with no top... she was inside of it, and he was outside of it, and they were swatting at each other through a little slot on the side. Now, maybe they weren't exactly PLAYING... but they went back and forth for a good 5-10 minutes, and no blood was drawn, so it was all good. Same with the chasing... maybe it wasn't ALL in fun... but there was no hissing or growling and they wore themselves out so I was happy. He still does not like laps or the couch. He prefers to come into whatever room I am in, chirp to let me know he is there, then flop over on his side so I can scratch his head or belly or back. When he comes into our bedroom, I pet him on the floor for a few minutes and then pick him up and set him on the bed. He stays for a minute or two, then hops down. However... major breakthrough today.... I was home alone for a few hours and decided to take a little rest since I have not been feeling well. I grabbed a comforter and went to lay down under it when Harold came in... I picked him up and set him on top of the comforter and slowly eased myself under it. He flopped over on his side like he always does, but this time he stayed for almost half an hour. He actually fell sound asleep! He was kind of half propped up with his head on my leg and just conked out. Anyway, I will continue to keep putting him up on the bed and try to get it through his giant head that that is where he NEEDS to sleep and SHOULD be sleeping. I actually have no idea where he sleeps when he is not under our bed... I find him dozing on the floor in various parts of the house. Which is odd... we have more than enough couches, chairs, a cat bed... hopefully he'll get it one of these days. He still does his nightly LOUD, CHIRPING rounds... but he seems to be starting later (earlier?) each night... now he usually doesn't start until 4:00 or 5:00. He still just seems slightly unsettled... like he can never quite sit still for any length of time... I swear he's got a touch of ADD or hyperactivity or something. Still no interest in fishing pole or laser pointer but he LOVES chasing toy mice around. I have the Feliway diffuser plugged in in our upstairs hallway... it's closest to where he spends most of his time, between the bedrooms and office and bathroom. I don't know if that is making a difference, or he is just gradually getting used to things, or what. I will just keep doing what I am doing and see where we get.

 April 24 -  Harold has been making progress in leaps and bounds!! As you can see in some of the pictures, he sometimes sprawls out on the desk while I am on the computer... he has also been jumping up on the beds more. He doesn't stay for too long... if he hears a noise, or Chloe comes in the room, he jumps down. He is still just skittish... we thought that he wouldn't be scared of anything after living out on the mean streets, but he doesn't like noises or strangers or anything new. We are hoping he will calm down eventually. He finally discovered how much fun the "string on a stick" can be... now he plays with that quite a bit. He loves loves loves his mousies.... he bats them around and flips them in the air and somehow they all end up underneath a bookcase downstairs. He plays by himself, and he and Chloe chase each other around... there is an occasional hiss or swat (always from Chloe, never from Harold) but they seem to be having fun. The best news is.... he has not kept me up at night with his lonely chirping for the last two nights!!! I have no idea where he sleeps, but he's not wandering around the house at all hours anymore. He's right there when I wake up; I'm just not sure where he comes from. He really is sweet... just needs to chill out a little more...

 

May 23 - Here you go... a picture of the handsomest boy in town! I actually just took this one tonight... he was just lounging in the doorway of the office, chilling out... he still doesn't have one "favorite" spot... he will flop down just about anyplace. He does LOVE the windowsill in our bedroom now . He sits in that all the time. He also loves laying in front of the sliding glass door on our lower level... it is shady and looks out onto a patio. There's lots of birds out there and he just hangs out there, watching the action... although I have also caught him napping down there too. He is a very sound sleeper... he will conk out just about anywhere. He does sleep on the foot of our bed at night now. We absolutely adore him. He is so sweet and mellow and good-natured. He and Chloe get along fine now. They don't snuggle and cuddle with each other (not by a long shot) but they seek each other out and play and chase. She can be crabby and swats and hisses at him every now and then, but he doesn't care... he just tries to sneak past her and never swats back. He loves his mousies... he plays with them every single day and doesn't care if they have catnip or not. I have watched him play with them for literally half an hour at a stretch... he loves it if we throw them, or he will play by himself... tossing them up in the air, rolling around on top of them... I think he purposely bats them under the couch or coffee table to he has to smush himself down to get them out. It's so funny to watch him. He also likes watching TV . We don't have cable, we have an internet thing where you can watch stuff on demand... Billy has found several live webcams of cat rescue organizations and both he AND Harold like to watch. Harold will either sit on the end of the bed or in the window and just be completely entertained... one time I had to tell Billy to change the channel because I thought Harold was going to jump right through the TV. I think he likes it here... as much as he loves sitting by the doors and windows, he never acts like he wants to go out. He does seem curious about the garage when we open that door (that's where he had his crawlspace adventure the first few days of living here) but he never actually tries to go out there. I think he is happy to be off the streets and live the life of a spoiled cat. He's such a good boy and we are so happy to have him... thank you for being our 'matchmaker'!!!