Leap of faith

I have big exciting news about Jasper today! 

In an effort to start luring him out from under the bed while I'm in the room, I had slowly weaned him back onto a wet food / twice daily eating routine. Last night, for the first time, I managed to persuade him to eat near the bottom of the bed (but still under it) while I sat at the computer - about 7-8 ft away. He has no issues eating in front of me anymore, but, until last night, would still refuse to unless I was laying flat on my tummy near him. Anything that involved me being in a seated or standing position still terrified him.

But the incredible leap of faith he made later that night blew my mind. I was laying on my tummy, talking to him and giving him the occasional treat for encouragement, when he decided to come out from under the bed and go use his scratch post. He's done this on rare occasions before..... but last night, when he was done, he hopped up on my bed which he has Never done in my presence, while I was still laying on the floor beside it.

Since I had the treats on hand, I slowly sat up, and when I was able to extend my hand to him, I gave him a treat. Since he accepted that, I tried sitting up a bit more and rewarded him with another treat when he didn't try to run away. And so it went, step by tiny step until I was actually lying on the bed with him about 2 ft away. He stayed with me for about 10mins, gave himself a good grooming, then hopped back down and went under the bed again for a nap. 

I can't even tell you how ecstatic I was that he finally felt brave enough to finally come out from hiding while I was around, although I'm sure you have had similar experiences, and can relate. The next big hurdle will be getting him comfortable enough to do this regularly. But I am so so So proud of him right now. That was a very big leap of faith for him to make - especially considering how long he has felt the need hide. I thought for sure there would be many more baby steps before he was comfortable enough for that.

Although he still will not allow me to touch him really, he has been naturally shedding many of the mats in his fur. And now that I've finally had the chance to really look at him while he was sitting up - wow! He's a big, handsome boy! I thought he was much smaller than he actually is since he spent so much time curled up into the smallest ball possible under the bed.