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.
9 comments:
That's great progress! I think the first few weeks are the hardest.
My brother Harley is fine with me (we have never heard him hiss or growl), but when he plays too rough with me I hiss and growl at him.
Oh I think that this is great progress! Hope sounds like she needs to learn for herself that she never needs to worry about where her next meal is coming from!
That is so great that Hope is becoming more relaxed at the new home. Our Dante is still trying to learn to live with the other cats.
So cool. She looks so pretty. We'd like a baby sister like that, even if she's a bit wild. Looking forward to updates.
Oh, she's so pretty! Sometimes it takes awhile. We wanted to say thank you for your purrs for Randy and Spot. They are both feeling better now. Randy's been letting Mom pet him. That's a huge step for him, cause he's feral!
Hope will come around in time. I mean, it was only a few weeks ago when Gracie stopped being a troll. So all in all it's been about 3 months for her...
I think that Hope is making very good progress! I guess it takes time to settle into a new place and have a sister and brother.
Mom has been talking crazy about maybe getting us a brother but Dad hasn't said yes so far.
That little darling screams like a banshee?????
Poor Hope, I'm sure she's doing the best she can. Sometimes periods of adjustment just take longer, but it sounds like she's making progress
Tipper
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