It is totally amazing how much the ones that require the most work and most
patience come to mean to us. This darling chose you. You are honored beyond
words.
PS I know what you mean about Calicos ruling the world-----------I had the
privilege of living with the Royal Princess Kitty Katt.
If you have men who will
exclude any of God's creatures
from the shelter of compassion
and pity, you will have men who
will deal likewise with their
fellow man.
St. Francis
----- Original Message -----
From: TenHouseCats
To: [email protected]
Sent: Sunday, December 31, 2006 10:06 AM
Subject: Re: OT - Help, aggressive cat
let me tell you about lacey susan, whom i affectionately refer to as my
psychotic, all-4-paw-declawed psychotic calico.... she was rescued at 4 weeks,
and lived with one woman til she was 5 years old. she was front-declawed as a
baby, and rear-declawed at around 3, because the new husband was worried about
his hardwood floors. (the cat weighed about 8# at her heaviest.) the husband
died, and the baby was born--and it was one of those babies who truly was
allergic to everything, including milk. so lacey went to live with her grandma,
where she spent all her time hiding under the computer desk.
she came into the shelter where i volunteered, and i was told that she was
most probably going to have to be euthed because she was nuts.... she'd do the
headbonk, nudge, pet-me, pet-me, love-me, hiss, growl, bite,
i'm-going-to-rip-off-your-face, headbonk, pet-me, pet-me routine.... she also
looked almost identical to my FirstCalico, who'd gone to the bridge two years
previously--and as you know, it's not usual to find two calicos with markings
that similar. so, of course, i had to give her a chance. i am NOT reliably a
communicator, but some cats DO talk quite clearly to me, and she has always
been one. i realized she was terrifed, and acting out of fear and abandonment.
i figured, hey, she has no claws, and as long as i stay away from the teeth,
what's she gonna do to me, anyway? started out talking to her in her cage, and
i promised her that no one would ever hurt her.... left her a shirt of mine to
sleep with, to have my scent. over the following days, i was able to pick her
up--the only person who could--and take her into the huge staff bathroom we
had. i'd take a book, some toys, and just sit on the floor and leave her be.
she'd sniff under the door, come over and nudge me, play with the toys,
headbonk, and demand petting in between her "i'm going to kill you, human"
episodes. i'd spend an hour or two with her each day. she'd go ballistic when i
went to put her back in the cage, but other than that, she was definitely
calming down--for me, at least.
there was a volunteer there who was big and fast, with very little awareness
of cat signals, and not too surprisingly, she bit him one day, so she went into
isolation for ten days--but i continued to work with her, and she continued to
respond. she was still nuts, mind you, but less so.
the shelter board asked me to write up an evaluation on her so they could
decide whether she should be put up for adoption, and one of the members
decided that she could tame her, and took her home for two weeks. when she came
back, she was worse than when she'd first come into the shelter, poor dear. the
board had decided that she could only go to an only cat home, so i would not be
able to adopt her. i was broken hearted, and pretty much stayed away from her,
because i didn't want to get close to her again.
two weeks later, they told me i could take her if i wanted to, because i was
the only person she'd ever responded to, and otherwise they'd have to euthanize
her. i was ecstatic. i was concerned about how she'd do with the fully-clawed
cats in the house--ha! i swear this cat files her teeth down in her spare time,
they were in far more danger from her than she ever was from them! it was
awful--she was attacking them constantly, as she'd managed to figure out how to
reliably get out of the isolation space. she was attacking everything,
actually--furniture, stuffed animals, me.... i had rescue remedy in a carrier
solution which i could spray on her and the surroundings, and it seemed to help
a bit, but after two weeks, it was rapidly becoming clear that something had to
change. i was up on the bed with her, and i was in tears. she was letting me
pet her, and i asked her if she really wanted to be on this earth any longer,
that she was terrorizing the other cats and drawing way too much of my blood,
and that things just could not go on like this. the little motley punk climbed
onto my lap, and purred for 45 minutes. and things began to get better from
then on.
that was seven and a half years ago. she STILL hates other cats, and will
still attack stuffed animals when hissed off. she told me, after a bit, that
she would NEVER be a pet again, because it hurt too much. that MAYBE, if i kept
her as long as her first mom had, she would CONSIDER really trusting me....
this is a cat who did NOT purr--very occasionally she would practice what she
insisted was "rhythmic growling," and would stop as soon as she was caught at
it. (once we actually had the vet come out, because she'd been purring
constantly, and we knew that there was something wrong!) almost five years to
the day from when she came to live with me, she started purring more
regularly.... she lived on top of the refrigerator for about 6 months after we
moved into one place; lived on top of my computer monitor for ages at another
point (and has never quite forgiven me for getting lcd monitors.)
i adore this cat, and have known since the first few months that, in her own
very calico way, she loves me, too. (she's the spokescat for CaLiCo, the Calico
Liberation Coalition, the radical, left-paw social and political organization
dedicated to world domination.) she will NEVER be the cuddly little lapcat that
her first mom swears she was, but i feel honored to share her life.
she is in early stages of CRF now, still treatable by diet. (she was raised
on delicat, ie, garbage food, and would NOT eat ANYTHING else--would literally
starve rather than eat good stuff.... quite annoying.) she's on a homemade
diet now, so is in a room of her own which she LOVES, considering how much
she dislikes other cats. she's positively affectionate now when i go into that
room, and it's a joy. i have a meezer foster who, alone amongst the other cats,
has figured out to get in and out through the screen door into that room, and
they're actually been seen sleeping next to one another--i pretend not to
notice, of course.
lacey susan is one of the greatest gifts of my rescue life.
--
Spay & Neuter Your Neighbors!
Maybe That'll Make The Difference....
MaryChristine
AIM / YAHOO: TenHouseCats
MSN: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
ICQ: 289856892
