Sunday, October 5, 2008

Mr. Puddy's break through...


Some of you may recall that for the past year and 1/2, we have been feeding a feral cat who showed up at our doorstep. He was only about 5 or 6 months old, when he first showed up here. Originally, he did not get along, at all, with our other cats, and we encountered close to $500.00 in vet bills due to cat fights which took place between him and the rest of our cat family. However, as the months past, the fighting stop, and everyone eventually found their place in the pecking order. We named the feral Mr. Puddy, and slowly tried to establish some trust between him and us. At first he would run away whenever he saw us, but would always come back the minute we where out of sight to get the food we left outside for him. Then after awhile, he became curious, and would stay outside, and watch us from a distance as we poured food into his bowl. For weeks I have been working on trying to get him to come up to his food bowl while I poured his food, and finally managed to get him to trust me enought to do this on Thursday night. By Friday, I was able to actually reach out and touch him, but only for a second, before he ran away. On Saturday, he let me full on pet him, for 15 minutes while he ate. At first my boyfriend didn't believe me, but by Sunday, he was allowing my boyfriend to pet him as well. Mr. Puddy still has trust issues, and will only allow us to pet him, when we set food outside for him, but it was a major break through and I look forward to further break throughs in the near future...Given the way the Mr. Puddy responded, I now believe he was probably dumped in our area and left to fend for himself. He is too friendly when he does allow us to pet him to have been born a feral, however given the fact that he is an intact male, I doubt he was adopted by someone from a shelter before being dumped. My guess would be that poor Mr. Puddy was yet another victim of a unplanned kitty pregnancy. Fortunately, he found his way to us, and will be and has been well looked after and cared for. So here's to Mr. Puddy, his break through, and the hope that there will be many more breaks throughs yet to come! (P.S. Mr. Puddy is the black kitty featured in the above picture sharing a bowl of food with Orange Boy.)

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well done with the breakthrough. Patience is a great virtue when there's a feral to befriend and you have it by the truck load!

Alastriona, The Cats and Dogs said...

We are so glad Mr. Puddy let you pet him, that is wonderful. ~S,S & C

Dma said...

woo hoo for the breakthrough wtih mr. puddy.

Babs (Beetle) said...

That's very good news :O)

Purrs, Sukie x

Laila and Angel Minchie said...

Breakthroughs with ferals is so exciting! Our mom has found that she lets them make all the first moves and won't begin to touch them until a week or so after they come up and start rubbing all around her legs. Good luck!

Angel Junior, Orion and Sammy said...

Bless you for taking care of Mr. Puddy! You have had better luck with him than Meowm has had with the ferals around here. The only one she could pet alittle was Baby Lily and she is the one that got sick and had to be put down.

My Littel Island said...

O-BOY u ar so good to let your new fur frint eat lovt the picyour food

Mr. Hendrix said...

wow! this is great news. we are very happy for you and Mr. Puddy.

we are very glad you're back and hope things are OK. take care! purrrrrrrrrrssssssssss

Daisy said...

Congratulations to Mr. Puddy on his breakthrough!

Anonymous said...

Yay for Mr. Puddy! We hope he will relax and just enjoy being a cat now!

Unknown said...

Mr. Puddy looks like a very pretty cat. How wonderful that he will now let you pet him.

Motor Home Cats said...

Congratulations on making the breakthru with Mr. Puddy. We are happy for you and him.

Tiki, Tavi, Cody, Camie and Miss Jade

Kaz's Cats said...

That's great news about Mr Puddy - concatulations to him for learning to trust you guys, even though he's had some tough times.

Purrs

Gypsy & Tasha

Tesla and Hansel said...

aw thats so great that mr. puddy is starting to trust you!

We are thankful for that! Its so cute to see them sharing a bowl together.

When you start doing raffles again... mom can make blankets and help out. We would like to make some for you and you can use them in your auction?

Either fleece, or we can crochet them for you.

Let us know :)

Unknown said...

That's great! What a nice treat to have him turn friendly just in time for Halloween! If you get Mr. P. fixed, I'm sure you'll see even more improvement and less fighting, plus he'll be less likely to contract diseases he could give to your other cats. I've fixed adult strays and expected them to be very mad afterward and go away, but instead they become more tame. If you search on the internet and check with your local humane society, you can very likely find low cost or possibly free spay and neuter options. : )

(angel) Grrreta and Fam said...

You are such a nice person to be so patient and help. It is wonderful that he has had such a major breakthrough. Now that he has been reminded how great it feels to be petted, I'm sure more breakthroughs will follow. He is a very lucky kitty to have found you.