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The parable of Bobo
Still, how things worked out were not the best for Winstanley, she was an outcast, not able to go on walks with us, have prolonged lap or petting sessions. And she was removed from the society of cats.
During Bobo’s time out in the daytime he would visit Winstanley’s shack. He’d run up the ladder and onto the addition roof and look into the windows to see her. When he did he would rise up on his hind feet and paw the glass. He was so excited. Winstanley wasn’t liking this, especially having Bobo at the windows around her loft bed. But after time, she stopped lunging at the glass. She would either go down stairs away from the pest or back to bed. More recently she sat and watched Bobo and started to reach out her paw and stroke the glass back. After Bobo had been up to his glass antics or when he’d gotten Winstanley’s attention some other way he went off to lie down or sit and bathe, purring loudly. When Winstanley moved into the shack we put in a screen barrier and second door so she couldn’t get outside or, it turned out, Bobo get in. One of the first things Bobo learned as a kitten was "not safe." When he heard that he would sit still and wait until it was OK to move. Once Bobo learned the shack door wasn’t safe, he was eager, but (generally) wouldn’t rush in. We began carrying Bobo inside and holding him in that protected space in the shack. He’d look eagerly about to see if he could see Winstanley, sometimes we’d have to point her out, she’d be on the loft or right above us lying on the screen. He’d purr and purr. He’d get so eager to say hi his whole body would pulse and wiggle. More recently, Bobo has come into the screened partition on his own four feet, eager and excited. Fairly quickly, after rushing right up to the screen one day and getting clawed through the mesh by Winstanley, he learned to keep a respectful distance. So now Bobo comes in a bit more slowly, and not so close to the screen. He crouches down and purrs. Winstanley, over time, has become more and more relaxed. She doesn’t lunge at the screen yowling. She sits and plucks the screen for a while, breathing loudly. Once she relaxes she walks away or rolls on the floor. Bobo for all his purrs is absolutely terrified when he is in Winstanley’s. It isn’t easy for him to go there; it is important to him to be there. If there is a loud noise he darts out and hides under a building for quite some time. But he goes back in and says hello, again and again. Winstanley has passed from dreading to looking forward to Bobo’s visits. When we come into the shack she looks to see if Bobo came in also. After a visit by Bobo she sometimes plays with a toy, tossing it about. We are not sure if Winstanley and Bobo will ever meet face to face with out a screen between them. Seeing the changes in Winstanley over a relatively short time gives us hope though. She has begun to lose her fear and the aggression that went along with it. She no longer automatically sees another cat as an enemy. She has a friend.
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Contact us: gmonk@citynet.net Back
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Winstanley
wandered out of the woods to our place when she was a kitten. She
was a shy, frightened youngster, not allowing us to come close,
even to feed her. We realized very quickly that Winstanley did not
get along with the other cats, would attack them if at all possible.
The cat fights were unusual, there was no prelude of yowls and hissing.
Winstanley would see a cat and instantly fly at them scratching
and biting. So we keep Winstanley separate. She goes out at night,
when she was back in her building in the morning then the other
cats can go out. Except for a single mishap where gentle Viva had
to go to the vet because of an injured eye things had been worked
out.
Bobo
arrived 3 years ago, an energetic, friendly kitten who has grown
up to be a very special fellow. He was entranced with the cat in
the shack and wanted to say hi. Winstanley would go out at night
and Bobo would wake up from his nap and jump from window to window
to get a glimpse of her. Bobo would see Winstanley at the kitchen
French door and rush over, stand on his hind feet and rapidly paw
the glass with his front as if he were digging, mewing a plaintive
meow.