I think I mentioned that I was (happily) doing quite a bit of hand-holding with Claire’s adopter(s). They knew going in that she wouldn’t be easy and they chose her anyway. I will be forever grateful! In every message I got, the concern was always for Claire; was she afraid? was she lonely for the other cats? what must have happened to her to make her so mistrustful? I just kept telling them they were doing great, stay patient, it’ll take time. So imagine how thrilled I was to get this message, just under the two week mark:
Since last time we spoke, Claire has started exploring the house, let me pet her maybe twice, we played with her yellow ball this morning. She has tried sitting at foot of our bed for maybe 1 min to my husband’s complete joy! She has made leaps of progress in the past 48 hours. She is very loving but so torn on if she can trust us. This morning she watched me get ready in the bathroom and rolled around but when I reach over she runs away…
I am so happy and proud of her. I wanted to share with you ASAP.
I love especially Yasir’s “complete joy” at her being on the bed. When I told them at the meet and greet that she sometimes slept on the end of the bed, Yasir was not thrilled; “He doesn’t want her on the bed” is what Nida said. 🙂
Take THAT people who want a new cat climbing in their lap as soon as they get home!!!! Such pleasure out of such baby steps. 🙂
Soon after the above message, however, I got a distressing email that she had regressed and they were worried she needed to be with other cats — the word “return” seeped into my brain. I appealed to the Post Adoption Counsellors for help. When I anxiously followed up I got this message:
I think she maybe heard me complain or something but she has been so overtly affectionate since. She is still frightened but we are lucky enough to get a chance to pet her (stick hand out, let her bump head).…So far so good, I think with her it is 2 steps forward, 3 steps back then 6 steps forward but maybe another 2 steps back … finding our rhythm.
I suspect the worrying email was equal parts frustrations and bad day. We (me and the Post Adoption Counsellors) will continue to provide support — for as long as they need it.
I am so happy for Claire. Especially since we considered releasing her to a feral colony or sending her to a barn. I’m so glad we waited for such awesome people to come along!!
