Buford is coming along

I entered a post here a week or so ago about Buford. We adopted him about five weeks ago after he had been in jail (the pound) for a year and a half. We coaxed him out from under the bed after a month. He rolled over on his back and I tried to pet him to enhance socialization. He showed me his claws. If I pressed the issue, he would claw me.

Last week we lured him out from under the bed, but he still resisted hand contact.

My wife was folding clothes on the same bed where he hung out and he brushed against a towel she was folding. We tried dragging a towel across his back and he loved it. Now he runs out at clothes folding time and we can touch his back. In fact, I was able to touch his head and even scratch his ears without losing a finger.

He's been out under the table for breakfast, rubbing our legs. Amazing transformation. Now if we can keep him from trying to beat up our other cat, we'll be in business. He's nowhere near a lap cat, but is now almost a good citizen.

The reason I wrote this post is to let people who have "problem" cats is to be patient with problem filines. It can take time and you have to work at it.

That's good news! And you're absolutely right about being patient. Good boy Buford.

Excellent post. Patience and a lot of love often go a long way. Especially for a cat like yours who was stuck at a shelter for a year and a half (and who knows what his life was like beforehand). In extreme cases people really need to put the calendar away. Cats are very intelligent, but they operate according to their own schedule, and people need to accommodate them. Otherwise it's often a prolonged cycle of one step forward, one step back.

Hope that things continue to progress favorably!