Yeah, Mocha would get the “giant feral eyes” and shrink away from me, too. Her socialization was a series of tiny steps over months, not weeks.
I couldn’t distract her with treats. She didn’t trust enough to be distracted. Oh, she wanted them. She just wouldn’t eat them when I was close to her. I had to put them down and then scoot away. It seems to be working with Chai so I’d keep it up!
It was about week three or four when she flopped onto her back and showed her belly...about three feet away from my outstretched hand. She started to purr about that time. She wanted so badly to be petted. I gradually moved closer and closer with my hand stretched out each time I sat with her. Eventually, she bumped against the back of my hand. We just worked it from there. But it really did take months for her. You and Chai are so much farther ahead than we were! Her resilience is so amazing given the loss of her leg.
Even after a year, I still can’t pick Mocha up, but in every other way, she’s a sweet, loving girl. Follows me around asking for pets, flops onto her back so I can rub her belly, hops onto my lap to nap, sleeps with me. She has even started asking The Spouse for pets. That took almost a year.
They’re all so different...as are we. Given her trauma, Chai has come a long way.
