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- Feb 15, 2010
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As some may remember I have a foster cat named Annie who is semi-feral. She does fine here in the cat group but she doesn't want us humans to come near her and we can only pet her occasionally under the right circumstances, like when she's very relaxed on our bed or in the little cat house. It's not very often. Maybe just once a month, if even that.
Despite her issues we decided to post her for adoption anyway hoping that there is a person out there crazy enough to be willing to adopt a cat like Annie. She's very pretty and that helps. She gets more hits on her Petfinder page than all our other cats combined.
Well, we had a lady come look at her yesterday and low and behold she's interested! In fact she says that she's certain. She wants to adopt Annie as a companion for her existing cat. It sounds like a very good home and the lady seems to have a pretty good hand with cats. She was able to sit just a couple of feet away from Annie without Annie freaking out. And, even more amazingly, she managed to pick her up. She wasn't picked up willingly or anything but she didn't scratch and after she was put down she didn't run out of the room or tried to climb up the walls as I would have expected. So far so good. I do believe that in the right environment, especially one without dogs, Annie could make more progress and maybe this lady could get her to a place I haven't been able to.
But I'm a bit concerned that this lady doesn't quite understand what Annie's problems are. She thinks that she's so afraid because someone has done something very bad to her. She is of the opinion that Annie just needs love and that's not how it is. It's possible that someone could have done something to her when she was a kitten but I don't think so. Annie is fearful because she was not socialized with humans during the early stages of her brain development when an animal can be easily tamed. By the time I got her that stage had already passed. It's kind of like a child who isn't exposed to language before age 4. They will never be able to learn to speak properly because that stage of their development has passed. Annie can definitely make progress. She has made progress. But I don't think she will ever be like other cats and I think that she will always keep her distance to an extent and I don't think this lady understands that at all. It's entirely possible that she will make very little progress and may live the rest of her life in a separate room, hiding when people come too close. It seems like this lady believes that if she takes Annie home and gives her love Annie will learn that she doesn't have to be afraid of her and things will be okay. But that's not how it works. If it was she would have understood that my husband and I are not a threat to her some time during the two years I've had her.
So, how do you guys think I should deal with this? I've tried to explain all these things to her both over the phone and when she was here but she seems a bit dismissive of what I'm saying insisting that something must have been done to Annie. She says that in her country many cats live outside when they are kittens and they are not like that. She also says that some of Annie's behaviors are typical to the breed she's mixed with (she's had several cats of that breed which is why she is interested in Annie).
Part of the problem in explaining things to this lady is that there is a bit of a language barrier.
I would be thrilled if Annie was adopted but I want to make sure that the adopter completely understands what her problems are so that she doesn't end up getting returned or don't have a good life. I don't want the adopter to be disappointed when she realizes that things didn't turn out the way she had hoped and end up regretting the adoption.
What do you guys think I should do? Should I just let her adopt Annie and hope for the best? Any advice is welcome.
Thanks for reading my very long post
Despite her issues we decided to post her for adoption anyway hoping that there is a person out there crazy enough to be willing to adopt a cat like Annie. She's very pretty and that helps. She gets more hits on her Petfinder page than all our other cats combined.
Well, we had a lady come look at her yesterday and low and behold she's interested! In fact she says that she's certain. She wants to adopt Annie as a companion for her existing cat. It sounds like a very good home and the lady seems to have a pretty good hand with cats. She was able to sit just a couple of feet away from Annie without Annie freaking out. And, even more amazingly, she managed to pick her up. She wasn't picked up willingly or anything but she didn't scratch and after she was put down she didn't run out of the room or tried to climb up the walls as I would have expected. So far so good. I do believe that in the right environment, especially one without dogs, Annie could make more progress and maybe this lady could get her to a place I haven't been able to.
But I'm a bit concerned that this lady doesn't quite understand what Annie's problems are. She thinks that she's so afraid because someone has done something very bad to her. She is of the opinion that Annie just needs love and that's not how it is. It's possible that someone could have done something to her when she was a kitten but I don't think so. Annie is fearful because she was not socialized with humans during the early stages of her brain development when an animal can be easily tamed. By the time I got her that stage had already passed. It's kind of like a child who isn't exposed to language before age 4. They will never be able to learn to speak properly because that stage of their development has passed. Annie can definitely make progress. She has made progress. But I don't think she will ever be like other cats and I think that she will always keep her distance to an extent and I don't think this lady understands that at all. It's entirely possible that she will make very little progress and may live the rest of her life in a separate room, hiding when people come too close. It seems like this lady believes that if she takes Annie home and gives her love Annie will learn that she doesn't have to be afraid of her and things will be okay. But that's not how it works. If it was she would have understood that my husband and I are not a threat to her some time during the two years I've had her.
So, how do you guys think I should deal with this? I've tried to explain all these things to her both over the phone and when she was here but she seems a bit dismissive of what I'm saying insisting that something must have been done to Annie. She says that in her country many cats live outside when they are kittens and they are not like that. She also says that some of Annie's behaviors are typical to the breed she's mixed with (she's had several cats of that breed which is why she is interested in Annie).
Part of the problem in explaining things to this lady is that there is a bit of a language barrier.
I would be thrilled if Annie was adopted but I want to make sure that the adopter completely understands what her problems are so that she doesn't end up getting returned or don't have a good life. I don't want the adopter to be disappointed when she realizes that things didn't turn out the way she had hoped and end up regretting the adoption.
What do you guys think I should do? Should I just let her adopt Annie and hope for the best? Any advice is welcome.
Thanks for reading my very long post