Savannah's Paw Tracks

Rewind: Real Rescue Cats are Talking

This post hiccupped earlier this week, so most of you missed it. It’s running again this weekend.

HIYA!!  SAVANNAH HERE!!!

Mom L and I agreed that it was appropriate to re-post some of my “Real Rescue Cats/Dogs Are Talking: Life Changing Interviews With Savannah”.

For the period of one full year, I did monthly interviews with one cat and one dog about their Real Rescue Story. They spoke in their own voices and their stories proved to be riveting in so many different ways. Enough so that I am bringing back a few while Mom L is recovering from her knee replacement surgery.

I will be re-posting two Real Rescue Cats Are Talking and two Real Rescue Dogs Are Talking. It was difficult to chose which four to re-post because all 24 were so well received by my readers. The four we selected are all about rescue cats and dogs who had many challenges to overcome; some of their challenges are unique. For those of you who have not read these interviews before, I hope you will find them insightful and inspiring.

One of my interviews with Real Rescue Cats was an unusual story.

How many of you heard a story about rescuing an adult cat from a human drug house?  The effect of living in that toxic environment caused Pooh to have unique behavioral challenges to overcome.

Please join me in re-visiting Pooh’s Real Rescue Cats Are Talking Interview:

Re-posted From 2013

 LIFE CHANGING INTERVIEW WITH SAVANNAH:

Now this next adult rescue ladycat is someone many you most likely will not know.  But she has been around the paw blog community for a while…but just recently, she and her woofie brofurs and Mumsy have all combined their blogs so we just need to visit ONE to know all about each and efurryone one of them.

 Great idea, Huh?

Now I bet’cha some of you have already guessed who this might be…oh—one more thing…this ladycat comes from a furramily that lives the word “rescue”…for quadrupeds AND bipeds!

I have your interest now, huh??!!

PURRlease give a very warm Savannah’s Paw Tracks welcome to…

 POOH!

 APAWS!!   APAWS!!   APAWS!!

Pooh has two woofie brofurs who I have already interviewed…Chancy (click  HERE to read his interview…my very first woofie!) and Baby Boy (click HERE to read his interview)! 

Remember them??  Well, now they and their cat furramily members can be found at “Mag’s Corner” …click HERE to stop by and say ‘hello’.

Savannah: Hiya  Pooh!  This is like so crazy, huh?  Here we are having this meow after I have already interviewed your woofie brofurs Chancy and Baby Boy.  In fact, Chancy was my very first ever Real Rescue Dogs Are Talking Interview…luvluvluv him!

Now I get to have a meow with YOU!  PAWSOME!!

Pooh: Thank you Savannah for interviewing me. I am happy to tell my story and I hope something I say will help other kitties and their families.

Savannah:  Now Pooh, just take your time…and tell us how you came to be living with Chancy, Baby Boy, Mumsy, Popsy, Patches and Snookums!!! That is some furramily you have Pooh.

Pooh: Well, Savannah—almost 11 years ago Mumsy heard that I was being abused and was about to be shot.

Savannah: NOES!!! MOUSES!!! Pooh!!! (Savannah covers mouth with paw in shock).  Oh purrlease forgive me Pooh for interrupting you…that is pawful!!…go on…(Savannah scooches closer to Pooh)

Pooh:  Oh Savvy, not to worry.  It was a very scary time for me.

You see I had lived in a drug house almost my whole 2 years of life. Those people were very mean to me.  They decided they didn’t want me around anymore and a nice person over-heard them saying they were going to shoot me.

That nice person got in touch with Mumsy to see if she would take me in if the nice person could talk those mean people into giving me up.  The nice person was able to get me and I was brought to Mumsy and Popsy’s loving arms and home.

My First Days

When I first come to my new forever home there were no woofies.  There were just three kitties—Frisky, Patches and Snookums.  It was a cat haven but I could have cared less then.

Savannah:  I bet you felt safe almost immediately Pooh.

I know you had so many challenges to get past Pooh.  Can you tell us what some of the biggest ones have been?  And maybe meow a little about how Mumsy and Popsy helped you feel safer so you could show your REAL SELF.

Pooh:  Oh, yes I gave Mumsy some huge challenges to get past. When I first came I was so wild and did such crazy things Mumsy told Popsy she was beginning to think I had brain damage. But now she thinks a lot of what I did was caused from being exposed to drugs.

Everyone learned real fast not to turn their back on me because I would jump up in the middle of their back and dig all my sharp claws in as deep as I could.  I would hang there until someone could pull me loose one paw at a time holding each paw until all were removed from the person’s back.

Mumsy was the first to get a good taste of my claws in her back.  She didn’t get mad at me but she knew we had a lot of work to do.

I would also run wildly around the house bumping my head into the walls and furniture.  I really didn’t want anything to do with humans except to dig into their backs, bite and scratch them.  Considering where I came from though, Mumsy understood why I was doing some of the things I did.

There were times I would stand for long periods and stare straight into Mumsy’s eyes like I was daring her to try to get near and I was waiting to dig in my claws deep if she did.

Mumsy would talk to me in a gentle voice and never gave up trying to get closer and closer to me without getting bites or claws in the back. She wanted me to feel safe and alter the bad behaviors before I seriously injured myself or some person.

Savannah:  Aiieee…those are some tough issues to work through Pooh! You are very brave.  Would you mind telling us some of the different things Mumsy and Popsy did to help you?  You know, stuff maybe that would give other human Guardians some ideas about how they can help their own adult rescue cat show more of his REAL SELF.

Pooh: Mumsy worked with me a lot and helped me get all better but she had help from surprising sources that really got me over the big hump to recovery.

Savannah:  hmmmm…that sounds kind of mysterious Pooh…meow some more about what you mean.

Pooh:  Like you said when you introduced me Savvy, my huMom and huDad live the word “rescue”…they have done that all their lives.

Mumsy and Popsy were foster parents for a lot of years for biped younglings—and Mumsy cared for a lot of drug babies. So as I said before she always spoke to me in a soft voice…like she did with the drug babies.

That was a good thing but some of my recovery came after I made friends with the kitty, Frisky.

That’s Me In Front

We bonded and she taught me a lot.  She would give me a bath several times a day and after a while I started to give her baths.  She would cuddle up to me and I learned to like that and would cuddle and nap with her.

After Frisky got me calmed some then Mumsy started working on getting me to relax and not be terrified of humans.  She would sneak and pick me up when I was sleeping with Frisky.  She knew she couldn’t swaddle me with a blanket like she did the drug babies so she tried another thing.  She held me on my back snuggled gently to her chest with her arms swaddling me as best they could.  She would talk to me ever so softly.  Sometimes I would get a claw in her but most of the time she had full control of me as long as I was on my back.

There was not a whole lot of progress made with me liking humans for some time. But some help came through unexpected means which got me on the road to trusting and liking my humans.

Savannah:  Ok Pooh…that’s sounds like another mystery like when you revealed how Mumsy and Popsy have fostered biped drug younglings…so give Pooh…what else unexpected helped you?

Pooh:  Mumsy and Popsy took in a rabbit that was left abandoned in a field not far from our home. Mumsy named him Hoolie.  I would go with Mumsy when she would feed and tend to Hoolie and watch intently.  I began going to his pen and would rub noses with him.

He had free run of the house in the day time and I learned it was great fun to play with him.  I loved that rabbit and would run with him as he hopped all through the house.  I gave him baths and slept with him sometimes.

After that we took in some rats. Oh, I loved those rats too and would rub noses with them.  Mumsy wouldn’t let them run loose though so I didn’t get to play with them.  I would stand at their cage and rub noses with them several times a day though.

Then would you believe we took in 2 guinea pigs. Those little piggies were so cute. I loved the little one…his name was DK.

I would go with Mumsy when she cleaned his cage, fed and watered him.  He and I would talk—he in piggy talk and me in kitty talk;  we rubbed noses too—he was a funny little guy.

Mumsy thinks me watching her giving tender loving care to the rabbit, rats and guinea pigs helped me a lot because I began letting her stroke me with one hand as she held me with her other arm.  She slowly began to hold me on my back less confined and one day she saw I was really liking to be held in her arms and stroked while she talked softly to me.

After a while longer she was able to ease me down into her lap and she stroked my back while I lay stretched out falling asleep. I still love for her to do that now it feels so good and really relaxes me.

Savannah:  Pooh, do you think you are different now from when you first arrived at your furrever home?  What do you know you do now that you wouldn’t or couldn’t do before?

Pooh:  Oh yes, Savannah I am a lot different now. I can now trust most people and love being around Mumsy.  She talks to me and now I talk to her.

I can even say two words that anyone can clearly understand. I can say ‘mama’ and ‘no’.

I will talk to Mumsy for as long as she talks to me and I love to have long conversations.  I still dig my claws in sometimes and keep them out more than I should but we are still working on that.  When I jump up on something I still keep my claws out.  Mumsy thinks I may feel like I am going to fall.  She has taught me to sit in front of her and meow and she picks me up gently and puts me on her lap then I don’t dig in.

She was told those mean people would pick me up and throw me, sometimes throwing me into a wall.  So she well understands why I want to dig my claws into things.  I no longer run into walls and Mumsy is sure happy about that.  She was afraid I was going to injure myself because I hit the wall with great force at times.

I get along well with all the cats and our closest family members.  I have learned to like and trust humans; a great big step.  Mumsy is so proud of me for coming along as well as I have over the last 11 years.

Savannah:  Oh Cat!  Pooh!  You went through so much living in that drug house; you were abused; sometimes hurt and never ever loved.  To think you survived to be two years old is amazing!  And then you got the best ever furrever home!

So Pooh, last question, can you offer any advice to our readers to help them support their adult rescue cat, or one they may be thinkin’ about brining into their home, through its recovery process?

Pooh: Never get upset with your rescue cat, be gentle, talk softly and have tons and tons of patience.  If you have a thought of something to try that may help your cat get better even if you think the idea might be silly give it a try anyway.

Never give up on us; we have been through a lot and deserve to have a safe, loving, forever home and happy life no matter what it takes to get us there.

Savannah: Pooh, This was great!  Any last thought or words of wisdom you want to share?

Pooh: Big hugs and tons of nose kisses from me to all the terrific people who care about us and have and will take in rescue cats.

Remember, Adult Rescue Cats Are Worth It!

Thank you so very much Pooh for taking time to do this interview with me.  You have an amazing story to share and to help us all learn different ways to help adult rescue cats move beyond their past.

That’s my post for today. Hope you enjoyed meeting precious Pooh…be sure to hop over to her bloggy and say “hello”…Mag’s Corner.

Paw Pats, Savannah

I will re-post three more interviews: December 24, December 31, and January 7, 2015. Please be sure to drop by on each of those dates.