Durango update

Wee little Durango is progressing in leaps and bounds now thanks to the influence of the brood. Although he still runs away if I move towards him, he has gained enough courage to stay in the room when I'm moving around and no longer runs and hides when the doorbell rings.

He's also starting to feel more secure about being in my lap, and we've had a few occasions now where he climbs into my lap and settles down for chin scritches when I'm sitting on the floor. But I think his biggest step forward this week was when he decided to join Kitty and Joni and I on the couch while I was knitting / watching movies.

d'awwww

It took him almost an hour of sitting on the arm of the couch, watching us all, before he worked up the courage to join us, but join us he finally did. Surprisingly there were no complaints from Capt. Crankypants (aka Kitty). Even more surprisingly, Durango was far more interested in settling down for a snooze than going after my knitting. ;)

Señor Fluffypants and his faithful sidekick, Big Foot

All of the cats at the home for wayward cats have silly, affectionate nicknames. Kitty is Kittyboo, Gypsy is Princess, Mina is Monsterbutt & Joni is Little Baby. Jasper and Durango have recently earned their nicknames, and are now known as Señor Fluffypants and Big Foot respectively. ;)

Both boys are positively blooming now that they're back out of quarantine and with the brood full time. And it is entirely due to the influence of their foster sisters, little Mina and Joni. My two mini cats are both incredibly social and outgoing little bundles of love and the boys are now picking up their social cues from them.

Weekly update 5.18.12

Whew! Busy times! Its been a week of ups and downs in the home for wayward cats. Since there's something to update for just about everyone, but not enough to qualify for individual posts, I'm combining them into one big post for this week.

My semi-feral boys

Durango's new favourite place to hang out is on the small filing cabinet next to my desk. He is entranced with my computer screens, and watches what is happening there intently. He's still quite shy about being touched, but did jump onto my keyboard earlier and allowed me to hold him and pet him for a few moments before indicating he wanted to be put down.

His progress has been much slower than I had hoped. But he is progressing, so I am pleased.

Jasper has finally reached the stage where he will allow me to hold him still during our grooming sessions. Which certainly makes grooming a little easier to accomplish. ;) We're still getting him used to having his sides touched, which means we haven't really been able to get rid of any of the mats on his sides yet, but he is allowing me to touch him there with more pressure than before. So there's that at least. I don't have any new pictures of him available, since he prefers to show me his bum rather than his cute little face, but we've managed to get rid of a great deal of dead hair from his ruff and upper body, and the difference in size between his front and back halves is quite noticeable now. He's still a big boy, but not nearly as chunky as he initially seemed when he first entered my home. ;)

Durango's first petting

As predicted, Durango has started asking for pettings. Well... in a manner of speaking. He still hasn't quite figured out how to actively ask, so he does it passively.
He waits until Jasper comes over to be pet, and while I'm petting him, Durango rubs up against Jasper on the opposite side. Then when Jasper moves away, Durango just kind of stands there, as if he's waiting for me to pet him. He lets me run my hand along his back a few times before his nerve wears out and he scoots off again. It may not sound like much, but considering how timid he is, I am pleased with his progress.

He did get up on the bed and snuggle down against my leg the other night, but I'm still not 100% sure he realized I was there. I have a tendency to bury completely under the blankets when I sleep, and my comforter is quite fluffy, so its entirely possible he was just oblivious. Either way, we were both comfortable, and I didn't want to startle him away, so I simply enjoyed the moment until sleep took me.

Jasper is his usual, amazing self. He's started to demand pettings now, often coming over and dipping his head as if he was headbutting me until I sit on the floor with him to give him scritches. He's becoming more and more comfortable with me petting his sides, which is fantastic news. Given that he is such a long haired beauty, I really want him to enjoy being groomed in the sensitive areas as well.

Durango and Jasper - fast friends and boon companions

Durango and Jasper have become best buddies, and it constantly makes me smile to watch the two of them together. Both are coming out of their shells at lightning speed now, and there is very little, if any, diving under the bed if I enter the room unexpectedly.

Jasper worked out another big knot throughout the night and true to form, ran over to the mirror to check himself out after I snipped the last little part that was keeping it connected to him. I am totally going to have to try to catch a video of him doing this. It's utterly hilarious.

Durango has quite obviously adopted Jasper as his surrogate parent and comes to him frequently for affection and grooming. Even sweeter is that Jasper has just as obviously accepted this duty and takes very good care of him - though he does have a tendency to steal Durango's wet food if he is still eating by the time Jasper is done his. ;) Durango is still too shy to ask me for affection, but you can see him trying to work up the courage whenever Jasper comes over to be pet. It's so sweet to watch, it practically puts me in a diabetic coma. ;)

Updates galore!

Whew! What a busy day today was. Sorry for cramming everyone's updates into a single post, but I'm wiped.

Durango makes an appearance

Earlier this morning, while the brood and little Joni were having a snore-fest in the living room, I opened the door to Durango's temporary sanctuary to see if he had any interest in coming out to explore his new environment. He was quite keen on the idea as it turns out, and within minutes, I found him quietly exploring Jasper's haven.

Kitten season - Durango's arrival & a surprise visit from Joni

Kitten season has gotten an early start this year, thanks to the somewhat mild winter we experienced here in Montreal. Coincidentally, it's also the time of year that C4P loses many of it's available fosters since many of them are university students, and the school year is ending.

I believe this is the text book definition of  'stuck between a rock and a hard place'.

So when the call went out for a foster for a timid little semi-feral kitten, who was trying to make his way in the world, seemingly without the benefit of a mom or siblings, I responded. Luckily, the concerned citizen who had contacted C4P about him was able to trap him within a relatively short time, and he arrived at the home for wayward cats this evening after being vetted. Although the founder of C4P and I were both set on calling him Clover, the vet asked if he could be named Durango. And given how invaluable her help has been for C4P, it was a no-brainer to agree to her request.

He is an absolutely adorable, 4 month old golden tabby.  Actual pic coming soon!

As is to be expected, he is quite overwhelmed by his experiences over the last 24 hours, and is thus far reluctant to leave his kennel when I'm in the room. He did come out when I was not in the room however, as is evidenced by his use of the litterbox and empty food bowl. I also managed to convince him to eat a bit more later in the evening while I was in the room, although I had to place the dish in his kennel before he was comfortable enough to do so. Still, it's a step in the right direction - the fastest and surest way to their hearts is through their tummies.

He is currently sequestered, at least until he's gotten a chance to catch his bearings. The last thing I want to do is overstress either him or the brood. And when you consider that the brood is already a little confused by the unexpected (and very temporary) presence of little Joni Mitchell, well, it's a bit much for poor Durango to absorb at once.

Little Joni is a rather unexpected foster for me, and will only be staying with us until her vaccination immunity has reached its peak - approx 2 weeks. Her previous fosters are moving to Vancouver tomorrow, and everything was all arranged to move her to another foster this evening. But it was discovered last minute that Joni was a teeny bit overdue for her 2nd set of vaccinations. Under normal circumstances, this would not be a problem, but her new foster home previously had a case of FeLV, so of course it's extra vital that any new additions to that household are properly vaccinated, especially young kittens who are more susceptible than older cats.

Joni has settled in beautifully and is already fast friends with Mina. They spent most of the night playfighting, then curled up in my recliner, groomed each other and passed out in a cuddle-puddle of love and fur.

Please ignore my ugly recliner. It's ugly as sin but incredibly comfortable, and all of the cats love it.

It's almost too bad that her stay here will be so temporary. She has fit in so well and so quickly, and she's such an adorable little girl. But considering that both Jasper and Durango require extra time and attention while we work through their trust issues, it's sadly just not feasible for me to foster her long term.