{"id":187,"date":"2014-09-30T22:41:38","date_gmt":"2014-09-30T22:41:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ailurophileuk.wordpress.com\/?p=187"},"modified":"2014-09-30T22:41:38","modified_gmt":"2014-09-30T22:41:38","slug":"knowing-when-a-cat-is-a-bit-of-a-greta-garbo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ailurophile.co.uk\/?p=187","title":{"rendered":"Knowing when a cat is a bit of a \u201cGreta Garbo\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

At least, where other cats are concerned.<\/p>\n

The handsome tom that began visiting us at the beginning of the year is just such a cat. He popped to see me sporadically at first, and then the visits became more and more regular, until he was either trying to sneak into the garden and take up residence on a bed, or popping in like clockwork for his meals twice a day.
\nAfter a couple of months with almost scheduled appearances, I managed to catch this boy \u2013 who I had dubbed Mim for reasons far too long winded to explain – and get him neutered and chipped to me. The change in his behaviour (after a four day absence; while he presumably weighed up whether or not he hated me for putting him through such an ordeal) was remarkable.
\nMim went from a nervous, skittish cat around me to one that actively initiated affection. Before I put food down, he\u2019d nuzzle my hand. This progressed to actually getting on my knee for a cuddle.
\nThe sticking point was the fact that no matter what I tried, he wasn\u2019t at ease with more than two of The Mob being present in the garden with us. He\u2019d accept fuss graciously; in fact he was quite insistent fuss was administered. But if one of the other cats came too close in proximity he\u2019d hiss or growl. (Understandably, The Mob weren\u2019t impressed by a newcomer ticking them off for approaching their human.) If he was settled in a bed, and more than two of the cats followed me out, his body would tense and despite his act of being asleep, one eye would open sporadically so he could check he was still comfortable with how close the other cats were to him. I realised that regardless of my rather strong attachment (it\u2019s natural you\u2019d form a strong bond with a cat you\u2019re teaching to trust again) Mim would never be truly happy as a permanent member of The Mob. Sharing was not something he was comfortable with, and he\u2019d made that perfectly clear without any real show of aggression.<\/p>\n

I reconciled myself to the fact that I would have to find him a home he was content in; and it wasn\u2019t mine.
\nDuring the time I had been trust building with Mim, I regularly visited a friend who lives locally to me. I\u2019d spoken to her about Mim on a number of occasions, and although she loves cats she and her partner had held off taking one on for their own reasons. I figured her meeting him would be nice, seeing as I had gabbled on about him so frequently, so asked if she\u2019d like to come and sit in the garden and have a cool drink with me one day.
\nWhen Mim came into the garden, the connection I saw between him and my friend was remarkable. It was pretty much instantaneous. I know if time hadn\u2019t been put in ensuring he was calmer around people this probably wouldn\u2019t have happened. But it did; and it was wonderful. Things moved pretty quickly from that point, because my friend \u2013 who was totally besotted from initial meeting \u2013 came and sat in my garden every day for the following few days; and she and her partner set about making their home \u201ccat friendly.\u201d Within a week, Mim was settled in a new home, safe in the knowledge he was loved.<\/p>\n

Although I miss Mim sitting with me in the garden while I drink a cup of tea, I know I did what was right for all the feline personalities concerned. Within days of Mim no longer being in the garden, my cats all reverted back to their normal behaviour too\u2026and Mim? Well, let\u2019s just say being an only child suits him much more.<\/p>\n

\"Mim<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Mim, king of his own castle….<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At least, where other cats are concerned. The handsome tom that began visiting us at the beginning of the year is just such a cat. He popped to see me sporadically at first, and then the visits became more and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ailurophile.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ailurophile.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ailurophile.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ailurophile.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ailurophile.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ailurophile.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ailurophile.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ailurophile.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ailurophile.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}