I was browsing through my phone album today, deleting random screenshots and old memes, when I came across this picture of my cat, Leopold. This is a special picture to me. It was around the time this picture was taken that he started opening up to and accepting us. It made me want to share his story and our journey together.
We visited the local shelter in February of 2019. It was meant to be nothing more that a standard visit to pet some cats. Personally I had never been to fond of cats. It was some irrational thing stemming from always having had a dog, stuck with the mentality that "dogs are better". Also I was allergic to them. Little did I know it was all about to change drastically.
My girlfriend started pestering me about getting a cat and I was having none of it due to my allergy. We compromised in the end and decided to foster a cat for a couple of weeks. This way we could get to see if it would work out with my allergies, and if not at least we had helped out at the shelter for a bit. A good deed.
When we arrived to pick up our designated feline, a young female kitty, they ended up not finding her and noticed they had given her to someone else. They did however have another one lined up for us. A 1,5 year old lil' guy named Leopold. A scared little guy who needed to get away from the other cats as he was being bullied. He's extremely submissive.
The picture above is a comparison of the 1st and 10th day of us having him. For the first week he would not leave his corner at all. He did not relax at all if we were in the room. He would lie there while following our every move and action. If we placed or threw some candy for him he wouldn't even look at it. He would hiss if we got to close. The first night we made the mistake of placing his litter box to far away from his safe space. He proceeded to pee in the sofa and hide behind the TV, where we found him the next morning, all tangled up in the cables.
By the end of the first week, following a lot of patience and a few claw marks, we were finally able to pet him properly. I would have to lay down on the floor and slowly pull myself closer inch by inch. I could pet him as long as I laid completely still. One wrong or sudden move and he wouldn't have it anymore. More pets meant more progression and in the end he started liking it. I would lie there on the floor for periods of 30 minutes or more so he could get used to me.
Soon after he would start to get up more. He would leave his corner for a while and move about a bit, as long as we had been sitting still in the couch for a while. Every time he moved about and did something new he hadn't done before we would sit completely still, gesturing at each other out of happiness and observing his every move. Day by day he would eventually warm up and get better until I was able to snap the picture on the right.
At this point I had forgotten everything about my past dislike for cats. I was completely committed to this little guy. After about a week my allergies simply disappeared. We talked to the shelter and let them know of his progress and they told us we could foster him for as long as we wanted to. The longer the better as it would help him grow more accustomed to humans.
Over the next months he would gradually get better. We could see progress each and every day. Progress could be small details such as him moving a little further away from his safe space to going to his litter box while we were around. Every little thing was huge to us.
No one knows why he's as afraid as he is, but most likely it's due to late socialization with humans. He was found in the woods at around 11 weeks alongside his sister and mom. All malnourished and weak. Cats have what's called a "socialisation period" for the first 8 weeks of their life. During this period they learn what's "safe" and "normal" aspects of their environment. Anything introduced to cats after this period is very likely to produce a response of fear.
Source: Kitten socialisation
It took about a month for us to hear his first purr. Another month for him to walk aroud freely while we were home. Another few months for him to jump up into the couch. Another few months for him to sit in the couch with us. Almost a year for him to seek us. After a year he would follow us around, coming into the bedroom at night to sleep on the dresser or in the window at night, watching over us. It took close to one and a half year for him to jump into bed with us. We're closing in on the two year mark now and we're still having firsts.
A year into fostering him we had decided we couldn't give him back. We were to attached and we felt like he was to attached to us as well. Giving him over would probably mean a restart in a new family. We just couldn't, so we adopted him. Now he's our little man. Living alongside us in his forever home.
I'll end it here for today. I hope you all have a fantastic start to your weekends. Feel free to share any stories you might have about your pets in the comments. I would love to hear them.
Rounding off with an assortment of my favorite pictures of my favorite lil' guy.
All pictures in this post are taken by me.