Marlow at milestone

Many of you know Marlow. http://www.thecatsite.com/search.php?search=marlow   He came to our house three years ago and has lived indoors only for 2 1/2. He has been VERY slow in becoming a domesticated pet. He has however pleasantly surprised us these past couple of weeks. 

Announcing his presence with his "to cry for" sweet voice which he uses very sparingly, he will come to Becky (at first) and now me for an extended petting. For two years he has only allowed extended contact during his daily brushing and only while he is on one certain bar stool in the kitchen. Other than that it had only been what we called "a drive by", one stroke and gone. This was par for two years.

He began the latest progress a couple of moths ago by entering the bedroom just after lights out and getting a quick couple of strokes and moving on. He would not have considered lying down and exposing his belly then. But now, wow! 

WOW that is super great.

My friend and I have been working with "Mystique" for well over a year to get her socialized and available for adoption.  The three other cats we rescued around the same time have all been placed into Forever Homes.

Mystique showed little progress, she wouldn't allow petting of any kind though she stopped running under the sofa when we entered the room.  We are/were considering returning her to the colony where she was found (and which I take care of).

Last month my friend (who keeps the cat) brought up her one year old Vizsla "Dougal" just to see what Mystique would do.  Well, love at first sight.  Mystique loves the dog, as well as his full brother Sailor.  Grooming, head butting of the dogs, trilling, weaving in and out of the dogs' legs.  Relaxed eyes for the first time, too, when sitting close to us.  Friend is able to finally get in a few pets before Mystique realizes there is a human at the end of that hand.  You just never know when -- or what--something finally clicks in the cat's brain.

Very similar indeed. We figure that we may be able to actually pick Marlow up someday.

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Look at happy Marlow!!!! :heart2: :rub: Oh, I'm SO pleased to hear an update - and such a wonderful one!

MARLOW!!!!!!!!!! :rub: :heart3: SO glad to see your update and that absolutely fabulous picture of Marlow :love: What a love

What great news! I am sure he is going to come around. My first feral took years to let me touch her.

And how is Sasha doing?

Nothing is ever easy. Marlow's recent behavior has not gone unnoticed by Sasha. Sasha has begun to charge at Marlow when ever Marlow is getting any attention. Marlow is bigger and stronger than Sasha but has for the most part, always let Sasha have his way. He's may be coming out of his shell now. Yesterday morning Marlow must have had enough of Sasha's pestering. He had backed Sasha into a defensive posture complete with Sasha hissing. Both had fur flying. 

We have always coddled Sasha because of his health issues in the past. He has had Idiopathic Cystitis, likely triggered by the stress of Marlow moving indoors and raining on his parade. He is more used to Marlow now and is very healthy now too. For these reasons we are clamping down on Sasha a bit. I think if they have to have it out, Marlow will decide who gets to be Alpha. I believe Marlow would be a benevolent Alpha, unlike his older brother, who is a pain in the ass sometimes. 

We still love both dearly.