"Cage" - the Diplocat with a golden heart

pintameez

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You've already met my other two cats, Cruz and Cash... now you meet my boy Cage.

Yes, they are all named after famous people whose last names start with 'C' ... it's kind of a theme, and tacky and groan-worthy, but it's worked for years. LOL Nicolas Cage, Penelope Cruz, Johnny Cash.

It ends here. The next animals to join our family will get non-C names, I promise.

So... Cage is my oldest cat, at almost 6 years of age (next month is his birthday). The quick version of his adoption story is, that he was my first rescue (he and his littermate, who was adopted by a nice family almost immediately) from a crack house on my street (old address, I've since moved). I took him & his sister home after seeing the woman throw him across the room by the tail. These were scary people, unstable & ignorant (I was there using the phone because I'd locked myself out of my house - talk about fate) ... I acted like the charmed kitten-loving girl and did alot of sqealing over both kittens and begged to keep them. They bought it and I ran with those babies, even though at the time I already had two cats and I wasn't looking for any more. I couldn't just leave them there. Wasn't an option.

So, I fell in love with the little boy, the little Pinto cat; I named him Cage because I thought it made a cool first name, and I taught him to jump up onto chairs and down again, fetch toys, sit & wave, walk on the leash, and speak on command. He's my little "dog", and I mean that in the nicest possible way, he is very much a puppy-dog, he looks you right in the eyes when you talk to him, he is loyal and constant, he has a very even temperament, and has the patience of a saint. Saint Cage.


Not long after I found my boy (my first male cat EVER), I started volunteering with the rescue group that had helped me home his sister, as a foster home. I thought I loved kittens, so I agreed to be the surrogate Mama for a litter of 3 week old abandoned babies. I almost LOST MY MIND trying to feed them, bathe them, play with them, stimulate their bladders, put them to bed, keep track of them, feed them again... if you've ever cared for bottle kittens, you know what a trial it can be. Cage was my lifesaver. After only a few days of caring for those squirmy squeakers, I was ready to give them back to the rescue group and wash my hands, but he snuck ino the large crate where they'd been living, pushed them around and settled into the middle, and proceeded to groom them top to bottom, stimulated their bladders, and allowed them to "suckle" on his fur and knead to their little hearts' content. At first, I was wary.. maybe he was just checking them out and if they bugged him, would he bite them or something? But no, he was as natural as... a mother. Every day, several times a day, he groomed & stimulated & snuggled & comforted those babies, he cleaned them up and then put them to sleep after I fed them. It took a HUGE load off me, and I was able to follow through with the commitment to those babies. They grew to be healthy, strong 8 week-old kitties and were adopted by different families.

Cage helped me with EVERY foster cat or kitten I have cared for over the past six years - He has helped me with bottle babies as described above, and he has helped me with feral cats that were too scared to trust the humans but ready to accept another cat. I'd bring the feral home, and let it loose into one closed-off room, where it would scurry and hide instantly. Then I'd let Cage into the room, and I'd sit on the floor with the food & water. Cage would go and find the feral cat, making friends immediately, cooing and chirping, bringing them out from behind the washing machne or the couch or whatever. The feral would be so interested in Cage and so releived to see another furry face, that they'd approach the food and then eat a few feet away from me without caring that I was there. After a few days of this, with me reading a book or babbling to the cats, the ferals would get used to me, and eventually, I was able to pet them and enter the room without Cage, and so on and so forth. This took weeks, it's not a quick process, don't get the wrong idea, but I swear Cage sped the process up by months.

Cage is also a Pet Therapy Cat. He visits the elderly or ill people in the hospital, usually the Continued Care Ward. I'd like to get him into the Psychiatric Ward here in the city, eventually, because mental health patients benefit greatly from animal therapy, just as elderly people or temrinally ill people do - well, just as anyone does. He loves to wear his bright yellow (cheery) harness and matching leash, and be brushed to a shine, and he's very good about nail trimming, of course.. he HATES the car rides... but he seems to really like exploring the strange buildings and meeting all the people. He allows them to pick him up and hug him and touch him, and pet him, and kiss him. He is very calm and just seems to KNOW the people are better off when he is there, he KNOWS their tears are happy tears, and he sits quietly while they cry on his fur and kiss his face over & over and talk about the pets they've known and loved in the past. He doesn't scratch or try to jump down, he would NEVER bite anyone, he never has. He is very much the gentleman with the heart of gold.

If you are an empath to the extreme (feel for others), I don't know if Pet Assisted Therapy is right for you, because it is VERY difficult to retain a professional attitude sometimes; the people really get into your heart and it hurts sometimes, a good hurt, but painful and challenging.

Cage is an angel.


Now, for some pictures!!




With one of my more recent foster kittens, Indy.













Hope you enjoyed meeting my Pinto boy!
 

snake_lady

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ohmygosh...... Cage is an adorable Moo Kitty.

His story is amazing...."nursing" the babies, being a therepy cat.... wow. He is indeed quite the cat
 

addiebee

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Awww! What a wonderful boy! And good for you for taking him around to facilities and sharing the love. That is something I would really like to do myself.

And Cash looks an awful lot like my foster boy Jake.
Jake is really sweet but a bit too timid for therapy work and he doesn't really like to be held. Sometimes he lets me cuddle him and he will put a paw on my face and give kitty dermabrasion - my lips, too!
 

lovesmycats

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What a wonderful story of Cage. He is definitely a sweetheart and a handsome boy. Thank you for sharing. It made me smile and warmed my heart.
 

mismaris777

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Originally Posted by Snake_Lady



ohmygosh...... Cage is an adorable Moo Kitty.

His story is amazing...."nursing" the babies, being a therepy cat.... wow. He is indeed quite the cat
Chris, you took my words! I wanted to say Moo Kitty!!!

Cage definitely sounds like the perfect, all-around little man.
 
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pintameez

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He is sort of like the perfect man, in feline form, isn't he? LOL

He is my special boy, for sure.
 
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