Savannah's Paw Tracks

Autobiography of a Former Shelter Cat

Archive for the tag “cat photo”

Changing Roles…Takin’ Care of Mom!

Hiya everybody…concatulations on reaching the weekend! Fridays are one of Mom’s best days ‘cuz she really enjoys her gym class called spycling, or cypining, or something like that.

Anyways, she had a tuff night last night…realllly bad muscle cramp in her leg…so she couldn’t go to her fav gym class thingy.  So she stayed home with me!!! SCORE on my part!!!

So I am hanging out with Mom this morning making sure she is OK…and we are watching TV, talkin’ about stuff, sometimes just furlfriend stuff…ya know what I mean…

‘Course it looks like she is takin’ care of me ‘cuz I’m getting the chin rubs…but Mom and I were talkin’ and she told me how much she and Dad believe I have helped them too.  Isn’t that the sweetest thing you ever heard!

Honest, she did say that!  Mostly ‘cuz when they found me it was still only about a couple of months after their last of 3 cats went OTRB and they were pretty teary and stuff.  They were also totally committed to not having another cat or dog ‘cuz they are…uummm…aaahhh…what did she call it???….oh yeah…I think it was something like they are “”tyrd, reeteered” or something like that.  Anyways, they had been trying to figure out what to do with themselves so finding me was “the best thing ever” Mom said…she did…really!

See, Mom and Dad have always loved animals and they always had rescue cats and now they get to work with me and others like me and help tell our stories ‘cuz we can’t talk.  So me, Mom and Dad all help each other!  Pretty cool, huh?!

Oh…I have to go check the channel for Mom…let me go take a look…be right back…

OK…yup…it’s on the right channel for her…back to bed…

Well, I have to get going…we’ll probably play a bit later on…I’ll just snuggle down here and nap a bit just to keep her spirits up…not like I need to or anything…yyaawwnnn…purrrrrrrrr

Savannah

A Cat is a Cat…And That is That!

Hiya everyone…I’ve been hesitant to talk about this subject but it is related to my recovery process…I have steps to work through and one of them is talking about my disappointment in how peeps project their peeps’ issues onto us shelter cats. There, I’ve said it.

So here’s what happened…I read something on Mom’s computer screen….oh, uumm no…she didn’t know I was behind her…

What??!! Oh, oh, I see…YOU didn’t even know I could read, huh?/!! Welllll…oh yee of little faith in the intelligence of us cats!!

Anyways…I read some stuff about what people had said about me when I was a shelter cat and it kind’a hurt my feelings.

Here is why. We are cats, not people. So it isn’t helpful when people see a cat being stand off’ish, hiding lots, growling, hissing…or whatever…and call that animal things like “grouchy, mean, nasty, unfriendly, etc.”.  We don’t feel those emotions, people do…but if we are behaving anything less than approachable…it is for these reasons primarily…

1. We are terrified, scared, afraid

2. We are hurt, sick, uncomfortable physically

3. We are so stressed from too many changes in our circumstances we have become depressed and withdrawn

4. People taught us not to trust them

That’s it.  We don’t get mad…we get scared and THEN become aggressive to protect ourselves from what we fear may harm us.

Just ‘cuz I had my ears kind’a flat…folks thought I was “mad”…are you  kidding…I put my ears like that when I am waiting for Mom and Dad to pet me OR when I am thinkin’ if I want to be touched…but I am not “MAD”

I hid at the shelters  ‘cuz I was scared and I was hurting lots of the time ‘cuz I had a bladder infection no one knew about…when I was finally with Mom and Dad, and an only cat, they discovered the truth about my health…and took care of it. But I was never “grumpy or mean”…I just hurt.

So I am just asking people to not assume that we cats feel their type of complex emotions. We are concerned with food, shelter, safety, health, no pain, trust.  If you see a cat at a shelter who is standoffish,  or even growling or hissing–don’t assume that cat is “unfriendly, mean, angry” (those are people emotions)

…it is probably terrified, hurt, sick.  Or, it might be depressed at not having had a kind touch in a long time.  Those of us who are not feral have known the kind touch of someone at sometime in our lives. And we are domesticated and so we miss being touched with love and kindness.

A Cat is a Cat…and we all hope for a “forever home” of our own…just sayin’…ya might wanna check out the Nine Deadly Sins my blog pal Otis, Cult of Otis,  talks about on his blog. Especially when he talks about being able to experience the True Spirit of a cat.

Hope I didn’t hurt anyone’s feelings ‘cuz I was just trying to move through my recovery steps…thanks for the read.  Paw Pats, Savannah

This was my intake photo at the county shelter…and no…I wasn’t “mad or ticked off”…I was terrififed…

Happy Times in My Furrever Home

SHHHH….WORDLESS WEDNESDAY…

Paw pats to all, Savannah

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