Saturday when I was delivering Rocket to her new home, Jen and Sam came out to visit, and I got the greatest email from them today (don't worry, I always cut out any personal/embarassing stuff when I post my friends' email to the world):
I just had to tell you how sweet the cats were on Saturday. Ben and Tiger Tom were cuddly as usual, but Perci was much more affectionate than she's ever been towards us. She was nuzzling her head in when we pet her (even when we had no babyfood).
Wings was rubbing against our legs and rolling on his back at our feet for us to pet his belly. We got to see Kid's personality for the first time. What a sweetie! She
hopped up in the window and wanted to play with the feather toy, so I brought it in the cat room and she played and pushed into my hand when I pet her, cuddling her head in. I had never gotten up close and personal with her before. She's absolutely gorgeous. Aside from Tiger Tom and Ben, none of them had ever really sought out our attention before.
Even Pinky didn't run away when we came in. He was sitting on top of Sammie's cage at first, and after a while, he came a little closer. He even let me stroke his face a little, but didn't push into it or take any babyfood. We stayed
longer than usual. Sam brought some reading that she needed to get done. I think we'll do that next time too, because it was nice to hang out with the cats for a couple of hours and really have time to play with more than just the usual 2 or 3 that come out when we visit.
I've been spending a lot more time with the cats, now that work is a bit more under control. And of course, Alden comes to visit now and then. And he or Jen and Sam come to visit, I can really see the difference in them. All it takes is just a small amount of quality time to really make these shy guys shine. Even with normal, outgoing pet cats, just a few minutes a few times a day with a toy will turn them into something other than the couch potatos we often let them become.
With the "formerly feral" cats, it's even more important for them to have quality time with different people. There aren't a lot of people I can trust to just give a key to and say "come on in whenever you want." With Jen and Sam I just had a gut feeling it was OK.
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