Well quite by accident I did fall into a way to help socialize my Romeo-he knew me from my feeding him in a small colony but was NOT happy at being brought in. Because I had to separate him initially from my brood, I set him up in my bedroom. There's an outer door to the bedroom and the bath inside my bedroom area also has its own door. Initially, I put him in the bathroom but I worried that his howling would disturb my neighbors (I live in apt). So out of necessity, I got a big dog kennel (wire one) from a friend an set him up on top of some boxes in my bedroom-This way, I wouldn't ever tower over him and he could see everything at eye level. I put his litter box and food dishes in there as well as a towel so that he'd be comfortable. Then I covered all but one side with a sheet. The kennel had a 'shelf' in it so that at least when I went in to clean the box, he could jump up on the shelf. He'd sort of retreat to the box when I would change his food & water.
Well, my computer is in my bedroom and I soon realized that as I sat there working, he'd be peeking out at me. If I looked at him, he sort of ran and hid. So whenever I was going to stay in the room, I'd make sure he was able to see me at all times. When I wasn't in, I left one side of the sheet open. Anyway, as the days went on, he sort of got used to seeing me, got used to the radio, the TV, the vacumn cleaner, etc-all those strange inside noises. He was safe inside his kennel so he'd just watch. After about a week, I opened his kennel door and realized that when I wasn't around, he'd sort of peek around so I started putting his food dishes at the bottom of the boxes & he'd jump out to eat and then quickly jump back up to get in his box. Then after another week, I put his litter box in the bathroom and switched him to a much smaller kennel where he could sleep but without his food or litter. Getting him in there was a trick-had to put the door of the big kennel against the door of the small kennel and sort of slide him in there! Once I got him in the little kennel, I showed him where the litter box was by bringing the kennel in the bathroom. Then I brought him back on top of the boxes in the bedroom. He'd wait til I was out of the room or until he thought I was asleep & then sneak around the corner into the box. We went that way for about 2 weeks. He got braver and braver even with me in the room but would always jump back up to his kennel if he got scared. Then about a month after I brought him in, I was sitting at my computer and saw that he had jumped on my bed and was making himself comfortable. Of course, the minute I leaned over the monitor to look, he hopped back into his kennel but I knew it was all going to be fine-he had found the creature comforts of inside living! I left the kennel up for another couple of weeks but by then my other cats were visiting and I got rid of it when I realized they were spending more time in it than he was! Soo, I think that by accident I sort of did 'immersion' socialization. He could see everything-hear everything-and still be safe. Once he realized nothing terrible was going to happen and that beds are really pretty neat, he was fine. He's turned into the biggest mush in the world. He'll let me do anything to him but pick him up-ane we're working on that! Chris <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Kelley Saveika Sent: Friday, December 29, 2006 12:14 PM To: felvtalk Subject: OT - Help, aggressive cat Hi guys, I took in an owner surrendered cat last night. Most of my rescue friends love taking in owner surrendered cats because they generally have at least some medical history. I got this cat in, and she is *extremely aggressive*. She acts completely feral. I'm not able to get within a foot of her at the most. I have her in the bathroom by herself in hopes she'll calm down. The previous owner states the cat was friendly with her and never attacked any visitors. However, the paperwork from the vet lists "aggression" as a condition going back at least 4 years. Any ideas? I think this is going to become one of my cats. I can't adopt out a cat I know to be aggressive. At this point, if she needed medical attention I'd need to trap her to take her in . Has anyone ever dealt successfully with a cat like this? If I didn't know better I'd swear she was feral and had never been around humans at all. -- Rescuties - Saving the world, one cat at a time. http://www.rescuties.org Vist the Rescuties store and save a kitty life! http://astore.amazon.com/rescuties-20
