I have two stray cats outside who I have taken into my care. Because I have four cats in the house, they live outside. But with a whole garage to live in if they do desire. Beautiful brown ladies, one short haired the other long haired. About three years after they showed up, another cat did as well. A giant grey long haired beauty. Male, for sure based on his head and neck, as well as the occasional glimpse of boy parts when he chooses to "bless" me with his backside.
I named him Werewolf Kitty, because he is a very odd looking cat. And he hisses at me constantly. He sees me in my house, full tooth hiss. I walk out to feed the cats, full tooth hiss. My brown cats do not take kindly to this, and generally he gets slapped or chased off when they see him being nasty. Which I am sure does not make me any less of a threat in his mind. The human is around, I get attacked. The only logical option is to hiss at the human. Heck, I would hiss at me too!
It's been about a year of him being around. I have tried to trap him and get him taken care of by the rescue organization here, but he is too smart for traps. I tried to be extra nice to him, so we could be friends. I have children in the area, and my parents always had a policy of "if it isn't nice, it's gone" when we had the farm, and that is my policy here, too. Especially a cat as big and aggressive as he shows to be. He came at me twice, once he was viciously mauled by my two cat bodyguards before he got too close. The other time was a situation where he was under the porch, I started down the stairs, he popped out hissing, I had no idea what he was and kicked him in the face. I don't condone kicking cats in the face, and had I known what the snarling mass of anger was, I likely would not have kicked him. Instinct took over in that case. He has avoided being within reach of me since then. Understandably. He was likely frightened by me on the stairs, and was only trying to warn me off. He can't reason that I didn't intend to harm him.
Yesterday, though, he was hanging out with the two girls, watching me work with the chickens. He even came over and stole a zip tie from me while I was in the cage and him outside. He was like a whole new cat! He did get slapped in the face by one of the ladies because she felt he was too close to me, but he didn't run off like usual. Today, when I was letting the chickens out for the morning, he was hanging around again. The one cat who usually slaps him was not around, so I reached out my hand and made the magic cat calling pspspsps. I didn't expect much, he usually just hisses and runs away. Today, though, he came over very cautiously, and got a head scritch. I was shocked, but stopped after a couple of pats, not wanting to sour the experience. Every time I walked by, I offered a scratch, and he kept coming for them!
Not a single hiss or showing of teeth! It is a not so Christmas Miracle! Eventually, the more protective of the female cats came by, shoved herself in-between us and slapped him, but he didn't run away. He even asked for a pat the next time I walked by. Werewolf Kitty might be allowed to stay after all. Here is a picture of all three of them cleaning themselves by my feet.
I named him Werewolf Kitty, because he is a very odd looking cat. And he hisses at me constantly. He sees me in my house, full tooth hiss. I walk out to feed the cats, full tooth hiss. My brown cats do not take kindly to this, and generally he gets slapped or chased off when they see him being nasty. Which I am sure does not make me any less of a threat in his mind. The human is around, I get attacked. The only logical option is to hiss at the human. Heck, I would hiss at me too!
It's been about a year of him being around. I have tried to trap him and get him taken care of by the rescue organization here, but he is too smart for traps. I tried to be extra nice to him, so we could be friends. I have children in the area, and my parents always had a policy of "if it isn't nice, it's gone" when we had the farm, and that is my policy here, too. Especially a cat as big and aggressive as he shows to be. He came at me twice, once he was viciously mauled by my two cat bodyguards before he got too close. The other time was a situation where he was under the porch, I started down the stairs, he popped out hissing, I had no idea what he was and kicked him in the face. I don't condone kicking cats in the face, and had I known what the snarling mass of anger was, I likely would not have kicked him. Instinct took over in that case. He has avoided being within reach of me since then. Understandably. He was likely frightened by me on the stairs, and was only trying to warn me off. He can't reason that I didn't intend to harm him.
Yesterday, though, he was hanging out with the two girls, watching me work with the chickens. He even came over and stole a zip tie from me while I was in the cage and him outside. He was like a whole new cat! He did get slapped in the face by one of the ladies because she felt he was too close to me, but he didn't run off like usual. Today, when I was letting the chickens out for the morning, he was hanging around again. The one cat who usually slaps him was not around, so I reached out my hand and made the magic cat calling pspspsps. I didn't expect much, he usually just hisses and runs away. Today, though, he came over very cautiously, and got a head scritch. I was shocked, but stopped after a couple of pats, not wanting to sour the experience. Every time I walked by, I offered a scratch, and he kept coming for them!
Not a single hiss or showing of teeth! It is a not so Christmas Miracle! Eventually, the more protective of the female cats came by, shoved herself in-between us and slapped him, but he didn't run away. He even asked for a pat the next time I walked by. Werewolf Kitty might be allowed to stay after all. Here is a picture of all three of them cleaning themselves by my feet.
