By the end of the first thirty days of Hope, most of her accomplishments can be seen as decreases or increases in frequency, intensity and duration of the following behaviors:
- Hissing is considerably diminished and spitting is almost nonexistent
- Screaming and Growling at us is less frequent but just as intense especially when any of us is near the kitchen at the same time as she.
- She continues to appear frightened that every meal may be her last and so tends to get really weird and cranky when it is food time. She is not yet comfortable enough to eat with us. That may take months.
- Her appetite remains the same intensity...she eats like a horse.
- She has gained a little weight.
- Hitting at us and mom is less frequent, mostly because we kind of know what will set her off and avoid those things.
- She is becoming more polite when she smacks us with her paw. That is, she keeps her claws retracted when she bats at us and so doesn't scratch (much).
- Her purring has intensified in frequency and duration but not intensity. She still has a very soft but audible purr.
Hope in the living room catching some sun strips.
As you can see, she is becoming more comfortable and as she is getting calmer so are we. Don't get us wrong, she can still frighten us when she starts screaming like a banshee.
Here Hope is during her first visit to our beloved balcony. At first, it seemed like a good thing but later when she tried to take the space over for herself we decided it would be awhile more before she gets balcony privileges again.
Hope and Tommy chatting. He told her that even though she is a troll sometimes, she is now our forever sister and we want her to feel safe and have more fun because that will be more fun for us too.
We've got high hopes that Hope will continue to make progress over the months to come.
