Wow

[m_cobweb]

I just petted our semi-feral cat.

I thought this might happen soon because I saw him watching me petting his foster sister last week. She was purring and obviously enjoying herself, and it looked as though he were wishing he were brave enough to do the same. Aha, I thought--it's time to start working on socializing him again, because I think he's ready. (This is how we socialized his foster sister, so I've been waiting for the moment.) Just now I found him lounging on the bed. He looked up at me, I slowly extended my hand, and he didn't dart away. So I slowly, slowly began to stroke him--and he looked away and even relaxed as I was petting him. When I stopped, he looked back up at me, so I stretched my hand back out and stroked him again. I stopped after a few pets so as to keep him from feeling insecure. But I think we may have hit a new milestone with him. I hope so.

His coat is really soft, too. Our sweet, brave Philip.

Comments

*sniff*

[darkmane.livejournal.com]

You lucky wench.

Sweet Philip.

Re: *sniff*

[m-cobweb.livejournal.com]

Remember, you just have to pet Bethany and make her purr while he's watching, so he feels jealous...

I'm about to terrify him anyway, by moving things around by the bed. :-(

[vulture23.livejournal.com]

Woo! He has been getting more and more brave over the months that I've had a chance to observe, so it's not too surprising that this would happen eventually. Quite a milestone, indeed -- I'm very confident that he'll continue to be more accepting of affection as time goes on. You've done a wonderful job with all of your "problem child" cats, and this is just another example of that. :)

[m-cobweb.livejournal.com]

Hee. I love our problem children, can you tell?

[poetdan.livejournal.com]

I just realized, I'm a sort of "feral" human. :)

[m-cobweb.livejournal.com]

Do you look longingly at those who are domesticated? If so, then you are probably "semi-feral." ;-)

Re:

[poetdan.livejournal.com]

NO. so, i'm not semi-feral.

[m-cobweb.livejournal.com]

This sounds like an LJ quiz. "How feral are you?" ;-)