Just look at what patience and love can accomplish.
Shea’s person sent us this update, telling us, “I weighed her this morning and she now weighs 6 pounds, that’s up from the less than 3 pounds that she weighed when I got her in December. She was emaciated, traumatized, and very scared of everything, including me. She refused to eat for the first 3 days I had her so our relationship got off to a rocky start, since I had to force feed her. Luckily, a good friend of mine who owned a pet shop and is very involved in animal rescue, advised me to give her CBD oil. When she ate her first meal of baby food turkey all by herself after getting the CBD, there were tears and great rejoicing. I truly did not think she would make it, she was so emaciated, and very wobbly when she tried to walk, and just shook when I held her and rocked her.
She has a bedroom all her own for the moment with a kitty heating pad that I borrowed from a neighbor who fosters abandoned kittens. Shea spends most of her time on that heating pad bed. I’m attaching pictures of her I took today in her safe space. She does use the litter box, however, she doesn’t cover up her waste. She’s my first cat who doesn’t do that.
I have put toys around the room, including catnip balls, and have noticed that sometimes the toys have been moved, another good sign. I’m taking my victories where I can find them!
Shea is 14 years old and it’s my guess that she was very badly abused as a breeding cat for many years, perhaps spending her life in a cage, since she had so much trouble walking when I first got her. She was also apparently put in a basement and left to die, only being rescued when neighbors contacted your rescue center. Her walking has also improved considerably and she jumps and moves quickly around the room when she wants to,
I often spend an hour or so just sitting in the room with her, so that I can become less of a threat to her. She loudly proclaims her objection to being held or even touched, again pointing to years of neglect so I limit touching her until she trusts me more than she does now. She is curious and alert, as you can see in the picture, and as all my Siamese have been, and I’m hoping that her curiosity will win out over her fear eventually.
My other cat and dog are curious about her but mostly just leave her alone when I take her for a walk around the house, loudly protesting while I do!
Eventually, I’ll leave the bedroom door open when I can supervise her and see what she does. It feels to me as if she is still in a cage, although it is a big, comfortable bedroom. At the moment I’m afraid she will find a place to hide where I can’t find her and might stop eating again. I know her hiding places in the bedroom and can check on her, talk to her and be near her in her safe space, hopefully building up trust that I won’t hurt her. It’s going to take a long time but I can be patient.
She apparently had some teeth removed while she was in rescue so I started off with baby food meat. She has now transitioned to chicken that I cook for all my animals and tuna. She handles the chopped meat, not ground up, like a champ!
She is a very special kitty who deserves a quiet, safe place to live. That’s what I am providing. Eventually, she will figure that out. When she gives me her Siamese thank you eye scrunch, which I get more often now, my heart just melts for her.”
