Happier news - Rocky update (long)

Great story Steve - you have done a neat job of settling Rocky into your
household.

Lois

"Steve Touchstone" wrote in message
...
Well, after the sad Maya update, thought I should post something a
little more upbeat. BTW, thanks for all the kind thoughts regarding
Maya. I doubt that I'll ever talk to her slave - as she moved out of
town - but hope the purrs and prayers got through to her anyway.

The ex-feral, mostly white tom cat, who became Rocky, is continuing to
make strides into becoming a proper lord of the house.

The girls, especially Sammy, have decided it's not such a bad thing.
Little Bit no longer runs and hides when he comes inside. She's
gotten to the point where she just ignores him, at least until he
tries to headbutt her, and even then she just jumps up onto the
closest piece furniture and glares. Oh well, maybe in time she'll grow
to like him.

Sammy thinks it's great to have someone else to play with. (Yes, Rocky
has caught on to the idea of play!) In the past Sammy has been
deprived, at least in her opinion, having just her Mom and me to play
with. After all, Sammy is just a playful 2 year old kitten, and Little
Bit and I were not enough to keep her entertained. She's even decided
to forgive him for taking her pink blanket with him when he went to
TED for neutering.

Rocky is coming inside pretty much every night now. He no longer paces
in front of the sliding glass door after ten minutes, instead is quite
happy to remain inside all evening. This has come about in stages. At
first he would come inside and asked to be petted, then be ready to
head out again. For awhile he would pace by the door, which then eased
into sleeping in front of the door. After a while he just got so that
he would venture farther away from the door, as long as he could keep
it in sight, but not venturing into the other rooms. Now he's apt to
be found anywhere in the apartment on the floor, still not sure about
getting up on the furniture.

I think Little Bit has him convinced that only girl kitties are
allowed on the furniture. Last night he dared to stand on his hind
legs with his front legs on the foot of the recliner for some petting
when he saw that I was sitting with the girls. Little Bit was not
happy and hissed until he got down, but didn't put up a fuss when he
came around the side and reached up from there. I suspect that one day
soon when Little Bit is not around to object he'll hop on up for his
petting.

As I said, he is learning the joys of toys. His favorite toy is still
the squeaky mouse, but will even play with the previously terrifying
trubo scratcher. On ocassion, so still pretty rare, he'll rough house
with Sammy.

Some other signs that he's coming into proper cat-hood:

He's becoming a picky eater - meowmix and friskies bought for stray
cats are no longer good enough.

He's learned the hoomin doorman trick - stand in front of the door
until the hoomin comes to open it, look through the door, turn around
and go take a nap.

Paper bags and boxes are fun - though he may never venture into the
carriers under the table for a nap like Sammy does. He will play with
Sammy when she's in a carrier, though - which I consider major stride
since he used to run and hide whenever he saw a carrier.

No longer hides if I throw something across the room - knows it's just
Sammy and I playing fetch. He'll even race Sammy if I throw the
squeaky mouse, though hasn't caught on to the idea of bringing it
back. Oh well, Sammy only brings back the squeaky mouse about 25% of
the time, a bottle cap is best for playing fetch, anything else is
pretty much hit or miss.

He has sorted out his vocabulary. He used to come up, headbutt you,
rub your leg and hiss. Now he meows and purrs like a proper cat. Just
as an aside, Sammy has the most proper meow, Little Bit's is a little
squeaky, while Rocky is mostly a squeak. It's sort of funny, here's
this big burly tom cat, who carries many scars from past fights and
life on the streets, who sounds an awful lot like his favorite squeaky
mouse with a little "ow" sound on the end of the squeak.

He's decided that this side of the building is a safe zone. Instead of
running and hiding when he sees a stranger, which he still does
elsewhere, he ignores strangers and comes to headbutt his friends.
He's actually the most social of the three when we're all outside and
someone comes over to talk to me - almost like he's making up for all
the petting he missed out on while feral. If I'm around he'll go up to
anyone and give them a headbutt - if they pet him, fine, if not, well
they're not worth his time, so he comes back to me for petting. Once
they pet him he goes up to them whether I'm around or not.

We've still got a few things to work on. He hates to be picked up.
Doesn't fight or anything, just sort of goes stiff legged like the
pictures you see of horses and cows being airlifted. The litterbox is
still a foriegn concept. He doesn't show any interest in going
anywhere in the apartment, just holds it until he goes out. He'll even
go to the door, go out and do his business, and then ask to be let
back inside. Just the opposite of Little Bit, who will rush inside to
the litterbox, and then ask to go back ouside.

Oh well, this has turned into a long enough message, and no matter how
much I write as soon as I send it off I'll think of several more
things which could have been included. So I'll stop for now and click
send...

no maybe I should talk about...

no enough for now...

SEND

So good to hear of the improvement!!!

On Fri, 26 Sep 2003 16:47:15 -0500, Steve Touchstone
wrote:

Well, after the sad Maya update, thought I should post something a
little more upbeat. BTW, thanks for all the kind thoughts regarding
Maya. I doubt that I'll ever talk to her slave - as she moved out of
town - but hope the purrs and prayers got through to her anyway.

The ex-feral, mostly white tom cat, who became Rocky, is continuing to
make strides into becoming a proper lord of the house.

The girls, especially Sammy, have decided it's not such a bad thing.
Little Bit no longer runs and hides when he comes inside. She's
gotten to the point where she just ignores him, at least until he
tries to headbutt her, and even then she just jumps up onto the
closest piece furniture and glares. Oh well, maybe in time she'll grow
to like him.

Sammy thinks it's great to have someone else to play with. (Yes, Rocky
has caught on to the idea of play!) In the past Sammy has been
deprived, at least in her opinion, having just her Mom and me to play
with. After all, Sammy is just a playful 2 year old kitten, and Little
Bit and I were not enough to keep her entertained. She's even decided
to forgive him for taking her pink blanket with him when he went to
TED for neutering.

Rocky is coming inside pretty much every night now. He no longer paces
in front of the sliding glass door after ten minutes, instead is quite
happy to remain inside all evening. This has come about in stages. At
first he would come inside and asked to be petted, then be ready to
head out again. For awhile he would pace by the door, which then eased
into sleeping in front of the door. After a while he just got so that
he would venture farther away from the door, as long as he could keep
it in sight, but not venturing into the other rooms. Now he's apt to
be found anywhere in the apartment on the floor, still not sure about
getting up on the furniture.

I think Little Bit has him convinced that only girl kitties are
allowed on the furniture. Last night he dared to stand on his hind
legs with his front legs on the foot of the recliner for some petting
when he saw that I was sitting with the girls. Little Bit was not
happy and hissed until he got down, but didn't put up a fuss when he
came around the side and reached up from there. I suspect that one day
soon when Little Bit is not around to object he'll hop on up for his
petting.

As I said, he is learning the joys of toys. His favorite toy is still
the squeaky mouse, but will even play with the previously terrifying
trubo scratcher. On ocassion, so still pretty rare, he'll rough house
with Sammy.

Some other signs that he's coming into proper cat-hood:

He's becoming a picky eater - meowmix and friskies bought for stray
cats are no longer good enough.

He's learned the hoomin doorman trick - stand in front of the door
until the hoomin comes to open it, look through the door, turn around
and go take a nap.

Paper bags and boxes are fun - though he may never venture into the
carriers under the table for a nap like Sammy does. He will play with
Sammy when she's in a carrier, though - which I consider major stride
since he used to run and hide whenever he saw a carrier.

No longer hides if I throw something across the room - knows it's just
Sammy and I playing fetch. He'll even race Sammy if I throw the
squeaky mouse, though hasn't caught on to the idea of bringing it
back. Oh well, Sammy only brings back the squeaky mouse about 25% of
the time, a bottle cap is best for playing fetch, anything else is
pretty much hit or miss.

He has sorted out his vocabulary. He used to come up, headbutt you,
rub your leg and hiss. Now he meows and purrs like a proper cat. Just
as an aside, Sammy has the most proper meow, Little Bit's is a little
squeaky, while Rocky is mostly a squeak. It's sort of funny, here's
this big burly tom cat, who carries many scars from past fights and
life on the streets, who sounds an awful lot like his favorite squeaky
mouse with a little "ow" sound on the end of the squeak.

He's decided that this side of the building is a safe zone. Instead of
running and hiding when he sees a stranger, which he still does
elsewhere, he ignores strangers and comes to headbutt his friends.
He's actually the most social of the three when we're all outside and
someone comes over to talk to me - almost like he's making up for all
the petting he missed out on while feral. If I'm around he'll go up to
anyone and give them a headbutt - if they pet him, fine, if not, well
they're not worth his time, so he comes back to me for petting. Once
they pet him he goes up to them whether I'm around or not.

We've still got a few things to work on. He hates to be picked up.
Doesn't fight or anything, just sort of goes stiff legged like the
pictures you see of horses and cows being airlifted. The litterbox is
still a foriegn concept. He doesn't show any interest in going
anywhere in the apartment, just holds it until he goes out. He'll even
go to the door, go out and do his business, and then ask to be let
back inside. Just the opposite of Little Bit, who will rush inside to
the litterbox, and then ask to go back ouside.

Oh well, this has turned into a long enough message, and no matter how
much I write as soon as I send it off I'll think of several more
things which could have been included. So I'll stop for now and click
send...

no maybe I should talk about...

no enough for now...

SEND
That was fun to read. MLB

On Fri, 26 Sep 2003 23:48:27 GMT, John Biltz
wrote:

On Fri, 26 Sep 2003 14:47:15 -0700, Steve Touchstone wrote
(in message ):

Boy, he has really come along. He must have been someone's pet at one
time or another.


Snip my original post

No, it's just seems that way since I've just been writing about him
for a relatively short time. Actually, I've been feeding him for about
4 years. so he was pretty well tame before I "officially" adopted him
and took him in for neutering. After I first started feeding him it
was a good 6 months or more before he'd approach me while I put out
the food, and a long time after that before he'd let me pet him.

I was pretty much content with the way things were until the
possibility came up that I might have to move. That was what finally
convinced me to stop procrastinating and make him a part of the
family. That's when I first starting letting him inside, although at
that time it was more a strategy for catching him so that I could haul
him in to TED for checkup and neutering.

So his progress is misleading. He has made tremendous strides since I
started writing, but when you factor in all the time I wasted by not
adopting him years ago the progress hasn't been quick. When I did take
him in for neutering he would come up for petting when it was feeding
time, but otherwise kept his distance. Now I kick myself when I think
that I wasted all that time by not adopting him long ago. I'm sure
glad that I didn't follow through on my original plan when I got him
neutered to give him to a lady who was looking for a barn cat ;-)

Right now he's over throwing the squeaky mouse around. His play with
that toy is totally different than my other cats. He lays on his back
and throws it in the air, while the girls just play hockey with it and
quickly become bored.

"Steve Touchstone" wrote
snip Rocky becoming lord of the house

Oh well, this has turned into a long enough message, and no matter how
much I write as soon as I send it off I'll think of several more
things which could have been included. So I'll stop for now and click
send...

no maybe I should talk about...

no enough for now...

Oh, Steve, that was such a lovely update, I could have read pages and pages.
Rocky is really coming around to pet status. Very nice.

--
Marina, Frank and Nikki
marina (dot) kurten (at) pp (dot) inet (dot) fi

What wonderful progress! I'm so very happy for both of you.
Best wishes,
--
Polonca & Soncek

"Steve Touchstone" wrote in message
...
Well, after the sad Maya update, thought I should post something a
little more upbeat. BTW, thanks for all the kind thoughts regarding
Maya. I doubt that I'll ever talk to her slave - as she moved out of
town - but hope the purrs and prayers got through to her anyway.

The ex-feral, mostly white tom cat, who became Rocky, is continuing to
make strides into becoming a proper lord of the house.
snip

In article , Steve Touchstone
wrote:



The ex-feral, mostly white tom cat, who became Rocky, is continuing to
make strides into becoming a proper lord of the house.


Great work Steve.
Suz
Iron Chef Macmoosette
Thank Heavens There's Only One
=^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^=

Chocolate heals all wounds.

"Steve Touchstone" wrote in message
...
Well, after the sad Maya update, thought I should post something a
little more upbeat. BTW, thanks for all the kind thoughts regarding
Maya. I doubt that I'll ever talk to her slave - as she moved out of
town - but hope the purrs and prayers got through to her anyway.

The ex-feral, mostly white tom cat, who became Rocky, is continuing to
make strides into becoming a proper lord of the house.

snip wonderful story

Many purrs for Rocky - seems he's found out what catly life is really all
about.

Yowie