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| Name: |
Spooky
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Age: |
One year old
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| Gender: |
Male
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Kind: |
European Shorthair
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| Home: |
County Cork, Ireland
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Spooky is one of five kittens which I trapped last year in June together with their mother. They all were born in the wild, and grew up in some ditch without any contact to humans for the first months of their life. My neighbor saw two of the kittens running away so we decided together we will try to catch them. It was clear they are feral and it won't be possible just to pick them up. When I went to the place where they were seen - no cat anywhere. I needed ten days all together to get them all. One kitten first, the mother was next - she went straight to the vet and got neutered to prevent more kittens.
For the first week I had three kittens and the mother in my "cat-can't-break-out- secured" shed. I fed them there, had two cat litter boxes there and cat toys. But whenever I entered the shed, I saw no cat. The food was gone, the litter used, the toys were lying in different places - but no cat. Of course they were hiding whenever I entered the shed. When I tried to go to them their mother would sit in front of them and snarl at me, ready to attack if I took just one more step. She was a very protective mother, that's for sure.
After two weeks I decided the mother had to go. The kittens were already around four months old and they didn't need mommy any longer. It was a fight! Together with my neighbor (who had adopted two of the five kittens) we separated the kittens from their mother. I got bitten and scratched from one of the little devils - he thought he was fighting for his life - poor thing. We managed it to get the mother out of the shed and keep the kittens inside. The mother ran straight into the next ditch and I never saw her again.
So, now I had the three kittens on their own. But of course, nothing changed at first. Whenever I went to the shed, I heard them running and jumping around - trying to hide in their favorite spot. So I've had three little ghosts in the shed. Snow-white and invisible. I spent a lot of time in the shed, just sitting there, reading until my whole body would protest from sitting on the hard ground. Sometimes I got a glimpse but as it just is with ghosts - if you see them, they are already gone again. I just waited for them to trust me, to understand I'm not their enemy. After several weeks I finally made progress. One of the ghosts was meowing at me while I filled up the bowl with food! And when I asked him "did you just meow at me?" he meowed again, looking straight at me and meowed! From then on in very tiny steps they started to trust me, to come out while I was sitting there and reading, sneaking around me, inspecting my shoes, playing a litte bit with the shoelaces. It took another couple of weeks before the first one allowed me to touch him. I nearly cried when he started purring.
The next step was to neuter them. It worked well - they were already used to getting some tasty chicken in a transport-box so I only had to close the door before they would come out with the chicken. Back from the vet I left them in the shed for another 2 weeks and then I decided it is time to find out whether they want to stay or prefer a life in the countryside. I opened the cat flap for them. For one week they were living under the shed but went back inside whenever I came with food. After this week they started to follow me to the house which is 20 meters away from the shed. And another week later they came in the house. First only through the bedroom window. They loved my bed from the first moment on. Playing, sleeping, using it as cat toilet ... which I quickly discouraged.
And now, one year later - they are still ghosts. Snow-white and invisible. At least if there is anybody around which they don't know. If it is only me and my other cats - they will go around my legs, meowing, purring, wanting to sleep on my lap and a stroke - the belly is very important and must be stroked whenever they around me. And because they are still ghosts, they got suitable names: Ghost, Spooky, and Casper (all males). We already had seven cats at this time so I tried to find a new home for them but nobody was willing to take at least two of them together and I refused to split them up. They need each other! So...they are with us now, fitting in well and they are as happy as cats can be. One of my other tomcats adopted the three from the first moment on. He's the big brother and responsible for cleaning and sleeping cuddled up with the ghosts. He's doing a great job!
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