Thursday, November 3, 2011

Donna the Brave


Donna.. my little bumblebee.. She still prefers dry food.. She did try the new Royal Canin food I brought home, and ate some of it, but on the whole she's OK with being different.

She's also very.. standoffish? introverted? OK with being alone?... well lets just say she does not embody the typical kitten spirit of everyone loves me and it is my job to let them.  At first I thought it was because she was fearful.  I brought her and Rose (Rose is also a bit introverted but not nearly as dramatically as Donna) to work for a little field trip.  I have found that getting the kittens out of their comfort zones then returning them really helps bolster their courage and makes them more ready to accept change in the future.  They hid the entire time they were here except for a few cuddles from the co-workers (sad but not really that concerning, it is the return to the comfort zone that cements their courage).  Unfortunately the trip out had no effect on her desire to be alone. (or alone with Rose.. )

She never liked it when I would pick her up and cuddle her or pat her. She enjoys playing with the other kitties, and with me if I have the feather toy out, but she is mostly content to play by herself. (or Rose) 

She really does embody all of those stereotypical cats that you hear from people who don't really know cats.

Well I am determined to at least get her to accept attention.  So I've been working on getting her to come to me willingly (OK fine, I trick her with a toy) and have been trying to hold her and give her love when ever I am able to get my hands on her with out freaking her out (not as often as you would think)

Finally I remembered (and yes I feel a bit like a dunce for not remembering this sooner) that leaving the TV on often helps feral kittens get used to humans.  The constant drone of human voices does seem to acclimate them to humans.  So I turned the TV on to home shopping and left it there for two days.

Donna then came up to me and licked my toe.  It totally MMD.. (in case you don't know IMMD it was a part of the icanhascheezburger.com network.  They have recently stopped posting little moments of win on "it made my day")

She skittered off when I bent down to pat her, but a toe lick is huge.  (of course then Micky threw his whole body on my foot saying he'd be happy to take Donna's patting if it was just going to go to waste)

7 comments:

  1. Donna the Brave was VERY brave to lick your toe. :-)

    Loved your last line about Micky, especially. He's such a boy. :-P

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  2. Donna was very brave to lick your toe! I always leave tv on when I have to be gone for the day. I've always thought that maybe they wont be so lonely if they hear voices.

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  3. Thanks for visiting us ... we have always understood PTU to be the "prisoner transport unit" ...!!

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  4. too cute - mom would leave the radio on when we had those "feral" kittens we were helping her reform. What helped to was introducing Tim (one of the 8 yr old boys here)...mom read that using an older neutered male cat will help friendly-up kittens. She didn't believe it until she tried. Lucky for her Tim likes kittens (and kitten food, so he is bribable). Too cute about Micky....

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  5. Those kittens sound like they are so cute.My kitten doesn't like to be held sometimes. I think it is just too hard to be still.
    Thanks so much for visiting our auction and making a bid. We really appreciate it a lot. I was wondering if you could send me your email so I can get in touch with you after the auction. Take care. It sure sounds like you are doing such a good job with those kittens.

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  6. My Kona loves being petted and loved on, but other than that she's very shy and introverted; I think some cats are just happy with their own company.
    Hurrah for a toe lick!

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  7. I've had kittens that have taken a year or two to enjoy scratches. They just want to play and don'y want to sit still. I also have a cat now who just doesn't like other cats, and is purrfectly happy with attention from her mommy. That is enough for her!

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