So! Sammy and Deli went off to PetSmart so their new owner could find them. And in return, I got two new kitties, Romeo and Mouse.
Peeps, I swear, it's like two old, cranky, fat-ass senior citizen cats have been somehow placed into kitten bodies.
They haven't tried to shiv me in my sleep yet (as far as I know), but these are the two most non-kitten kittens I've ever met in my life.
You know how most kittens are friendly and playful and adorable? Yeah. These two are terrified of people and spend ninety-nine point five percent of their time underneath the bed in the spare room. They only come out long enough to eat and use the litterbox (as long as I'm not anywhere near, natch). Oh, once in a while one of them will make a brave foray into the hallway, where they sit and shoot a death-glare at me in the living room, until I happen to look up and notice, at which point they make a mad flail to get back under the bed again.
Day-um.
I've dealt with ferals before. Heck, The Runt and Little Girl came from a feral litter, and were deemed "unadoptable" by the shelter I was volunteering for at the time. But Romeo and Mouse? They give new meaning to the term.
They were part of a small feral colony in a local town. A woman who has been feeding them contacted the rescue group, who managed to catch Romeo and Mouse. Romeo and Mouse are estimated to be about four months old, which means time is running out, kitten-shelf-life-wise. If they don't calm down and friendly-up real soon, it's going to be awfully hard to get them adopted.
Oh, kitties. Come play with me! I am friendly! I promise! And unless you want to go be barn cats (which can be a glorious life but, unfortunately, often a short one), you need to learn to trust people.
They are supposed to go to an adoption event next weekend. I've got my work cut out for me. Wish me luck, guys.
2 comments:
Here's my totally unsolicited advice: split 'em up so they can't huddle together and feed off each other's fear. Someone recommended that to me a few years ago when I had a litter that I was sure would never come around, and the change was pretty much instant. It's pretty amazing!
(And by "split 'em up", I mean put them in separate rooms, temporarily, not split them up long-term.)
Robyn, thank you so much! I could definitely give that a try, although they both seem to be coming around in the past day, so maybe it won't be necessary. Mouse actually walked up to me this morning and rubbed around my legs, although that could have been the dish of cat food I was holding. Ya think?
The foster coordinator calls it "breaking" kitties - when a feral one comes around, she says, "yep, we broke him." Like breaking in a horse. Heh.
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