Spooky Daisy

Fizzlesque

Earlier this year, I arranged with Cats Protection to trap, neuter and release (TNR) a wild cat I'd been feeding. Little did I know, she had three very young kittens at the time, so when they were old enough to start following her into my garden, I started feeding them too. I rang Cats Protection to see if they'd take them away and find homes for them, but was told this wouldn't be possible, that the best they could do was capture them and put them to sleep. As I have two cats of my own, and was feeding momma cat, as well as her boyfriend, I really didn't want to add these three to my kibble-kitchen members' list, so I agreed to Cats Protection's suggestion.....for about five minutes. As soon as I got off the phone, my eyes filled with tears and I had to phone back and cancel the arrangement. My too-soft heart couldn't go through with it.

Over the summer, when my budget could stretch to it (and even when it couldn't) I got each of the kittens caught, neutered and released. The first one was a girl kitten, the other two boys. The girl kitten took up residence in my back garden, sleeping in a dog house I had put there years earlier for the first stray cat I adopted. Over time, she started coming into the kitchen, when I left the back door open, so I rooted out my two cats' old toys and started spending a bit of time playing with her. She responded very well to the attention, and, by the time summer had faded, she had learned how to use the cat flap and was letting herself in when I wasn't there. Two months ago she was asleep upstairs when I got home and, for some reason, this time she didn't run when she saw me. She spent that night indoors and within a few days became a permanent resident. It was time to give her a name; I called her Spooky Daisy.

Eventually, Spooky Daisy stopped diving off the chair she was sleeping on if I got out of my chair, or passed her to go to another room. I continued to talk to her but never touched her. The first time I put my hand near her to gauge her feelings on that score, she recoiled instantly as soon as she smelled my hand, so I thought we'd always have a certain distance, but I was wrong. Yesterday, encouraged by her reaction to me handing her a treat, I chanced my arm (well, my finger, really) and touched her head gently. She didn't seem to know what was going on, but she didn't recoil, so I tried again, with a second treat and a single finger slide down her head. Feeling braver (both of us) I decided to attempt a proper head pet - it was amazing, she started to purr really loudly, though she still didn't seem to understand what was going on. I left it there for the night and went to bed. When I woke up this morning Spooky Daisy was on my bed, curled up against the lump in the bed that was my leg. Slowly, I sat up and tentatively reached out to pet her head; within seconds the sounds of her purring filled the air. Today has been filled with head pets, with Spooky Daisy purring like a loon and me smiling like another loon.

That's it really, that's what this story is about - the slow, steady build-up of trust between me and a tiny feral kitten. It has filled me with such pleasure to have reached this point. New Year's Eve 2013, and one tiny (well, she's not so tiny any more) kitten has made me feel full of hope for 2014 by showing me that a little love really does go a long way.

mymo

That's such a lovely story, it's such a huge triumph I know, to see a former feral purr at your touch.
I hope you and Spooky Daisy have a great 2014!

Fizzlesque

mymo wrote: »

That's such a lovely story, it's such a huge triumph I know, to see a former feral purr at your touch.
I hope you and Spooky Daisy have a great 2014!

Thanks, mymo. It's true, it really does feel like a triumph - I've befriended loads of feral cats over the years, but this is my first time getting so close to a young feral kitten, fresh from babyhood.

I'm amazed at how much of a leap from we've made in such a short time, I really didn't expect it. It's quite sweet too; Spooky Daisy keeps almost falling off the cushion (and it's a big cushion) because she's getting so into the pets, rolling on her back, stretching out to me, lolling her head back till it's resting in the palm of my hand.

Thankfully, my two cats have decided to accept her. I wasn't sure if they were going to. Initially they ignored her, despite her obvious interest in them (she's particularly smitten with my male cat) but they're now playfully chasing each other around the house.

Happy New Year to you, hope you have a fantastic 2014 too.

boomerang

You just made my New Year - that's AWESOME - and so are you!

Fizzlesque

boomerang wrote: »

You just made my New Year - that's AWESOME - and so are you!

Aw, thanks, Boomerang. I'm chuffed to know Spooky Daisy's 'love snowball' is still gathering momentum and spreading good cheer....

Happy New Year to you

Pumpkinseeds

I don't think there's a happier feeling than the first time your feral trusts you enough to let you touch them, especially if there's purring involved:) Well done you and Spooky Daisy.

anniehoo

We need pics!!!!

Fizzlesque

anniehoo wrote: »

We need pics!!!!

Hi, anniehoo, I'd be delighted to post some pics, if I could figure out how to. When they're transferred from my camera to my laptop they're Paint Shop (with a DSCN+some digits title) but don't have a url that I can copy and paste. I remember having problems adding images to a thread on boards before and have never tried since. That was in the Ladies' Lounge and the mod fixed my dodgy attempt, but I can't remember what I did to get as far as having a dodgy attempt that was fixable.

I've posted pics on Facebook, but all that requires is for me to go in to the 'add photo' button via my own page and the 'create album' section and I can then access the folder with my photos that way, but don't know if such an option exists here.

Any suggestions for me?

Edited: Since posting this, I've done a bit of messing about and managed to save a photo as a jpeg. Unfortunately, I'm on a really old laptop, due to my not-so-old laptop being in the repair shop drying out following a glass-of-wine-spilled-over-keyboard incident, so it's a doddery, slow process. I shall report back soon.....

anniehoo

Try this and see how you get on. Embedding images

Fizzlesque

Fizzlesque

That's a fantastically helpful post, anniehoo, I'm gonna have to bookmark it for future reference. Thanks very much.

I couldn't figure out how to get text into the post as well as the images, but hey, it's only January 1st and already I know more than I did last year - that's what I call a very promising start to a new year

boomerang

What a sweetpea!

Fizzlesque, you really did make my day with this beautiful story. Wish there were more people out there like you.

mymo

Aww, she has a butterfly on her face!
What a sweetie.

taytobreath

You are a credit to the cat world. That was the best post I read in quite a long time. Well done.
And your handy on the camera too, they look like they've been done by a professional photographer

Aglomerado

That's a lovely cat. Well done for rescuing her.

Hope you have many more years of purring ahead!

miezekatze

Aww what a lovely story! So glad you rescued her!

Fizzlesque

Thanks, taytobreath, Aglomerado and miezekatze. I continue to be amazed every day with how much progress Spooky Daisy makes, in terms of getting used to being part of a family: playing chase with Fiasco (my male cat, who now accepts his new baby sister) and clambering on top of me in the morning, while I'm still in bed, to sit on my stomach or legs and purr like it's going out of fashion.

The downside is the 'gifts'. My two cats stopped bringing me dead birds and mice ages ago, but Spooky left a very dead and horribly mangled bird at the bottom of the stairs this morning. It probably wasn't meant for me, as I heard herself and Fiasco having great fun flinging something around this morning, but I thought it was one of their toys. Luckily she'd retired to her bed for a snooze when I found it, so there was no issue with getting it from her to dispose of it. Hopefully she doesn't feel the need to demonstrate her new-found happiness with further 'gifts'. The purring is thanks enough

Ava_e

Just chiming in to say, I loved your sweetly written story, brought a bit of sunshine into what has been a grey day. Hope you and Spooky Daisy have lots happy years together

taytobreath

Fizzlesque wrote: »

Thanks, taytobreath, Aglomerado and miezekatze. I continue to be amazed every day with how much progress Spooky Daisy makes, in terms of getting used to being part of a family: playing chase with Fiasco (my male cat, who now accepts his new baby sister) and clambering on top of me in the morning, while I'm still in bed, to sit on my stomach or legs and purr like it's going out of fashion.

The downside is the 'gifts'. My two cats stopped bringing me dead birds and mice ages ago, but Spooky left a very dead and horribly mangled bird at the bottom of the stairs this morning. It probably wasn't meant for me, as I heard herself and Fiasco having great fun flinging something around this morning, but I thought it was one of their toys. Luckily she'd retired to her bed for a snooze when I found it, so there was no issue with getting it from her to dispose of it. Hopefully she doesn't feel the need to demonstrate her new-found happiness with further 'gifts'. The purring is thanks enough

Honestly I think they are actually meant to be gifts, as a thank you. Dogs do it too. Its there way of saying thanks for been such a great owner, I know its horrible having a dead bird on your floor.
Before the birds start nesting I put a little bell on my cats collars. It helps.

jimf

theres no better feeling than when you make that break in there trust it took my daughter 3 weeks to get our fella from feral to the couch

didnt want to be held at all just wanted to be beside her and rubbed

holding him took another 3/4 weeks

well done this a fab story and so well written

Mrs Garth Brooks

Awww, this is such a sweet story. I love it.

Pumpkinseeds

Fizzlesque wrote: »

Thanks, taytobreath, Aglomerado and miezekatze. I continue to be amazed every day with how much progress Spooky Daisy makes, in terms of getting used to being part of a family: playing chase with Fiasco (my male cat, who now accepts his new baby sister) and clambering on top of me in the morning, while I'm still in bed, to sit on my stomach or legs and purr like it's going out of fashion.

The downside is the 'gifts'. My two cats stopped bringing me dead birds and mice ages ago, but Spooky left a very dead and horribly mangled bird at the bottom of the stairs this morning. It probably wasn't meant for me, as I heard herself and Fiasco having great fun flinging something around this morning, but I thought it was one of their toys. Luckily she'd retired to her bed for a snooze when I found it, so there was no issue with getting it from her to dispose of it. Hopefully she doesn't feel the need to demonstrate her new-found happiness with further 'gifts'. The purring is thanks enough

Our former feral took a while to grow out of it, but he usually ate the birds he killed. It was how he survived before he had us to feed him. We give him a raw chicken wing once a week and the occassional raw pork rib to munch on, it seems to pacify him and he doesn't kill birds any more, at least none that he brings home, mice on the other hand:eek: He brought in 2 one night.

Fizzlesque

taytobreath wrote: »

Honestly I think they are actually meant to be gifts, as a thank you. Dogs do it too. Its there way of saying thanks for been such a great owner, I know its horrible having a dead bird on your floor.
Before the birds start nesting I put a little bell on my cats collars. It helps.

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

Our former feral took a while to grow out of it, but he usually ate the birds he killed. It was how he survived before he had us to feed him. We give him a raw chicken wing once a week and the occassional raw pork rib to munch on, it seems to pacify him and he doesn't kill birds any more, at least none that he brings home, mice on the other hand:eek: He brought in 2 one night.

The little rascal brought another one home last night. She's not killing these birds herself, she's finding well mangled carcasses and bringing them home to play with. They both had had their bones well and truly picked clean by time she found them. I woke up last night when the clack-clack-clack sound that I thought was part of my dream became less dream-like, and found the rascal flinging feathers and bloodied bird bits about my bedroom. I shooed her away and put what was left of the bird in a bag, and threw it out the bedroom window into my front garden, with the intention of dealing with it in the morning, and went back to bed.

This morning the bag was gone but the bird was still there. I also realised the bag I'd used was one that a parcel had been packaged in and had my name and address on it. If anyone saw it they could be forgiven for thinking I've got myself an enemy who sends me dead animals in the post - Spooky Daisy is living up to her name and by adding a horror movie twist to my life :eek:

On a nicer note, she has now taken to curling up close to me and licking my hand. I can barely believe it's the same cat who would run as soon as she saw me a month ago. She absolutely loves being petted and played with. Next on the agenda is to get her to a vet for her shots, I thought it would be a long time before we reached that point, but now all that's holding us up is getting the funds together. If only there was a lucrative market for very old and totally dried up bird carcasses.