Beautiful story, MC - Thanks.
Gloria
On Dec 31, 2006, at 10:06 AM, TenHouseCats wrote:
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
