Anyway, I have fostered here and there before and I house sit, look after friends cats and other animals and so on.
But I have experienced something for the first time with my newest foster. I haven't seen it before but don't foster that often so thought maybe others with more experience with fostering could try to explain this.
I recently took in a young female cat. A bit of background history on her and her family:
Her mum(named Hoopla now) was heavily pregnant last August time, she disappeared at the end of August/beginning of September and next time we saw her she had kittens with her!
Two tortie girls, one black female and one black male.
The little black male got stuck, long story short I got him down(the RSPCA failed to do so) and my mum decided to keep him as he was friendly. He was named Tuna(I used tuna to tempt him down from where he was stuck) and was neutered and microchipped.
Fast forward- I started working with a cat rescue ans we trapped Hoopla(hence why she got named) who was about to drop kittens again. She had five kittens in the foster home, they are all doing well, Hoopla is a little feisty and so on.
Fast forward a bit more- We trapped both the Tortie girls. Both of those were feral. Truly feral. They were taken in, spayed(one was pregnant with one kitten so was terminated for her safety) and taken to a stable where they are ratters/mousers.
And then, there's this girl. She was trapped as she was heavily pregnant, close to popping... Baring in mind that these four(the torties & two blacks) are still technically kittens themselves. They are only 10 months old.
This girl was assessed by the vet and the decision was made to terminate her as well(for her own safety more than anything) and spay her there and then. So now we're mostly up to date.
She is being fostered by me, she is spayed so is bald in certain areas and in recovery basically. She is in a large crate, she came to me yesterday morning. I have made the decision to slowly let my males(both neutered) into the living room which is where the crate is(the boys are locked out at night so she has all night to herself in here)... My tuxedo moggy, who is also a rescue called Sox, isn't too keen and has had a few hisses but usually removes himself from the room after and leaves her be.
My other cat, Tiger, who is a tabby is a very different story.
Lily(the little black female) spends her days laid in her bed or on the floor of her crate, usually sleeping or watching me. She is eating, drinking and has used her litter box perfectly fine though. She even had a few treats yesterday as I gave all three cats some in the living room(after slowly letting them in one by one, etc.) to keep them occupied for a bit.
The sleeping/watching me happens most days, until Tiger walks in. As soon as Tiger walks in the room she's up, she's meowing at him, rolling over, showing her belly, etc... He's interested in her too, they have been playing gently through the bars and meowing lightly at each other.
So, knowing that she had taken treats before and observing their behaviour I ran a test this morning.
I shut the living room door so it was just me and her in the living room. I got the treats, the exact same ones, and I put some in her crate with her, shut the door and moved back - She wouldn't touch them. Looked at them, even sniffed them, but would not touch them.
So I let Tiger in the room too, I offered him some treats and as soon as he started eating, she came forward and started eating too.
I opened the crate and sat next to the door, she came to the front, they sniffed and mewed softly and she started coming OUT! Right next to me, didn't care that she was almost touching me! And then Tiger walked off too quickly and she dashed back in her crate. But this was massive compared to what I've had so far(I know, she's still settling in so don't expect much) which is sitting at the back while I do her food and water.
He has an effect on her, a real effect... Do you think that in the short time she's been here and they've met each other she could have bonded with him and him with her? Or is she simply looking up to him as an older cat? She is rolling, mewing, basically submitting herself to him whenever she gets the chance and he's doing the same back...
Oh wow! SO sorry for the long post!! Please don't hate me!
Any answers - Thanks in advance!
P.S. Of course you probably want to see her too... As you can see she's not completely terrified, shaking at the back of her crate scared of me but I can't get too close. I took this photo just now, I was sat at the front of the crate with the camera angled so that it was taken through the bars to get a clear photo.
- 11th July 2015(500px).jpg (61.25 KiB) Viewed 1220 times