Edited to add: They’re now named! See their names at the bottom of the entry.
So, we have new fosters! These guys (who haven’t been named yet – it’s Fred’s turn to name them, and he’s giving it much consideration) were found hanging around the apartment complex where a Challenger’s House volunteer lives. There was no mother cat around.
They are scared. I mean SCARED. I don’t know if they were inside at one point and then abandoned, or have never really been around people, but when they would much prefer it if I would GO AWAY PLEASE.
They’re close to feral, but I don’t think at this point (of course, it’s early days so I can’t say for sure) that they’re quite as bad as Stinkerbelle and her siblings were. We moved the dresser out of the room so they wouldn’t huddle under that and hide. I left a kitty condo in there, and last night the brown tabby (boy) was huddled behind it.
I left them alone for the most part last night (I picked them up from the vet yesterday, where they underwent their testing. They’re big enough to be spayed and neutered, but they didn’t have time to do it, so that’ll happen at some point in the future), and when I went in the room this morning, three of them were up on the cat tree and one (the brown tabby boy) was hiding in the kitty condo.
I just went in there a little while ago and they were all up on the cat tree. That they’re not hiding in the kitty condo or in the carrier I left in there, might be a good sign. Or it might not. Who knows?
I sat in there with them for a while and they just huddled and stared at me. I waved some toys around for them, but they just stared at me. I actually petted all but the orange tabby, and they suffered through it. They didn’t LIKE it (still too scared at this point) but they put up with it. I didn’t push it too far, though.
Like I said, it’s early days. If they’re still refusing to interact in another week or so, we’ll start separating them, bringing a single one down into the guest bedroom. It’s amazing, the difference separating them makes sometimes.
They’re estimated to be about three months old.
Torbie (torti/ tabby mix), girl.
Orange tabby, boy. He’s been up on that platform since last night (though I’m sure he’s been down to eat and drink and use the litter box), and he just glares at me balefully whenever I come near.
Brown tabby, boy.
Working on his look o’ het, apparently.
Torti, girl. The shelter manager reported her to be the feistiest of them (she had them at the shelter in a bathroom overnight before they went to the vet), but she seems pretty calm to me. They had to sedate her to test her, though, so she may be still feeling the effects of the sedation. She’s a gorgeous little thing.
Torbie again. LOVE her markings.
The torti, glaring.
Torti on the left, brown tabby (hiding) in the middle, torbie on the right.
Scaredies.
Fred has now named them. I wanted to go with a theme, but Fred preferred a bunch of unconnected names. They are:
Orange tabby: Lem (from The Shield)
Brown tabby: Delmar (from O Brother, Where Art Thou)
Torbie: Marion (from the Indiana Jones movies)
Torti: Claudette (from The Shield)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Previously
2007: No entry.
2006: “The only crime here is how good-lookin’ I am.”
2005: Oh, how I’m going to miss his stinky little butt!