It takes time to feel at home.

Ian with his toys

Dear Folks at CRARL,

This donation is in memory of our beloved cat baby “cakey” who died last month at 21 years old.  I still miss her so sadly and deeply.

But I wanted to tell you about “Ian”.  We adopted him last January so I don’t know if you would remember him, but I was told he was at the shelter for 3 years.  He was very standoff-ish and skittish, but that was the main reason I chose him, because noone else probably would have.  And there was something about his eyes and the way he looked at me. 

He was terrified of course when we brought him home.  I put him in a quiet room as I know you should when they first come home.  He hid under a bookshelf for a week.  For the first 36 hours he wouldn’t even touch his food.  After that he would cautiously come out but when I opened the door I saw a tail darting back under the bookcase.  I would get down on the floor and talk softly to him under there.  Sometimes I would get discouraged and wonder if he would ever come out.  But I know I must be patient.  The first week went by and it was time to finalize the adoption, so I came in and signed the papers.  That evening, he came out from under the bookcase, flopped down when I reached to pet him, and just started purring and rolling around.  He would put his head down and roll like a somersault.  Since then, there’s been nothing but progress.  He is so loving.  It took a long while for him to even get used to all the strange sounds of a household, like the furnace, even t.v. or music.  He still tends to have a skittish side if he feels like he’s cornered or something, and he still won’t let me pick him up, but I couldn’t ask for a swweter boy.  He likes to push his face against me and into my long hair, and he follows me into bed every night.

It breaks my heart when I hear of people who adopt cats then bring them back because they “won’t come out”.  They don’t even give them a chance.

I have enclosed two pictures of Ian, one is him with his buddy Gizmo.

Thank you for everything you do,

Genevieve Flanders

Buddies.

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