Prego

The kittens mother was so skittish last year that even the sound of the door knob turning would make her run, now she gladly spends the day and night with her kittens in the porch. She is such a baby now always on our feet and wanting to be petted. She brought us the kittens in August so thats trust. She wont come in the house yet and freaks out when put in but its way better then last year at this time. Prego is a beautiful cat your very lucky to have her, Zoey and Saki.

Alicia, Shadow, Graycie, & the four musketeers.

Hows it progressing Sicy? She sure is beautiful!

Yes Sicy how is it going with Prego ???

Wow, she is SO pretty! :

My porch kitty Tiger Lily used to be totally wild, too. I would just set her food down & sit quietly - at first she would run if I got closer than 10 feet. Just get a little closer, keep still, and look away from her if she appears to be frightened. Since she's letting you get so close already, it probably won't be long before you can sneak in a pet - I got my first pet for Tiger Lily by sitting next to her while she was eating too. I slowly moved my hand closer & closer next to her while she was eating, then gently stroked her back. She jumped up & ran away, but the next time she arched her back like 'hey, that felt nice!' and if I pet her on her back or neck, she likes it, as long as I don't move to quickly toward her face. The important thing with her was to look away & stop moving if she appeared nervous with what I was doing - not pushing her too fast really helped to build her trust.

She's been around for about 7 years now. She still won't come indoors, but I can pick her up and put her on my lap to pet her. She'll even let me put her in a carrier to take her to the vet now. Of course, she won't have anything to do with me for a day or so afterwards!

Tess what a great story!!

Still about the same with Prego. I play with her every nite almost with the feather. She's been coming in the daylight too.. not just at night like before. She sleeps a lot on the chair on my patio Last nite while playing with her I tried to extend my hand (not sure if that's such a good idea while she's in play mode LOL ) she will bat at my hand once then kind of back away. Last nite she came up to it and sniffed it, but then backed away. *sigh* I keep forgetting to put vanilla on my hand like hissy said though to get rid of the 'human' scent.

well that means she is doing good . She is starting to smell your hand wow , I think that is great news .

Prego is so smart. I tried to hide her feather in this cupboard type thing on my patio and she got it out of there and ran off with it



She's so cute

Prego is not only cute , she is also very pretty . Great shots of her

Awww, she's so pretty Sicy!



I can't wait until you get to pet her!!! She's gonna be like "Woah I was missing this ALL THAT TIME! More more mooooore!!"



She's goregeous and she deserves the love you're offering! Thanks for working with her!!

Originally posted by Sicycat
Prego is so smart. I tried to hide her feather in this cupboard type thing on my patio and she got it out of there and ran off with it

Click to expand...

smart and pretty!

I must have missed this before--she is gorgeous!! You're such an Sicy

Prego looks GREAT! Keep up the excellent work Sicy!! Looking forward to more pics and stories about u and Prego..

Prego is a sweet tortie snowshoe love those eyes!

Sicy if you are nervous or scared to pet her than don't. Not until you get that under control. They pick up on this very quickly and they will nail you if you are apprehensive, let her make the moves to you, one night, she will just come up and head bump your leg, trying to pet her now, is a no-win situation. She will consider you a threat and back away and you will have lost all that ground you gained with her. Petting is a reaction/emotion you want, not one she does, not right now. She is still waiting for you to grab her, so just back away and play with her as you have been doing, or just sit quietly on your back stoop reading a book out loud to her. Let her make the first move, not you.

Ok.. I will. But what if she never does? I'm not really scared.. nervous a little maybe, just because I want to pet her so bad Any time I try to extend my hand out to her when she's close, even if I have a treat in my hand, she will back away.. or bat at my hand , like I said before. It's just amazing to me that I can sit and play with her just a foot away, yet I cant touch her.

But I know hissy knows best so I will just be patient

It does take a lot of patience. If I remember correctly, it took about a year for me to be able to touch Tiger Lily. She wouldn't let me w/in 10 feet of her at first. Like Hissy said, I would just feed her and kind of 'hang out' on the porch nearby, not moving much, and looking away when she looked at me. Each time I fed her I would 'hang out' a little closer, and watch for signs of nervousness - if she acts at all fearful or angry, give her a little more space. You want her to get used to you being around, and to take your presence for granted. It's a gradual process.

It seems that when I go to sit in the patio chair that's when she feels "safe". That's where I sit when I play with her.. (and where I smoke my cigs ) and if I just sit there and dont move too much, she will come as close as one foot away to play.

When I first go out to the patio to give her food, she will run to the other side of the patio. I tried putting the food down and staying crouched down a couple feet near it but she wont come. If I walk over to my chair and sit down, she immediately goes to eat. Then she'll come over to me to play (if I have the feather).

She's as gorgeous as ever Sicy.

Keep it up.

She is soooo pretty.
My feral that is outside would "bat" at my hand,too,after I had already been trying to make friends with her for a while(She was close to a year old when I caught her and had NEVER had any human contact).She would eat right beside me,but when I went to touch her she would back up or bat at me.The way I got her to let me touch her is I would take a hot dog out every day and break it into pieces and toss her a piece,getting closer to me each time.I would set on my steps and I would put a piece right near my foot,she finally got to were she would come and get it and I was able to touch her.(Also used canned cat food)Once I got her trusting me,I took my pet carrier outside "baited it" and set outside near it and waited for her to go in.She finally couldn't resist going in and when she did,I reached around with my foot and shut the door and then latched the carrier and off to the vet she went.
I kept her in my bathroom while she was recovering from the spay and she had to learn to tolerate me.LOL.I did get slapped by her several times,so did Mike.(I had a neighbor come over and he had to use the bathroom and I told him to not try and touch the cat in there,well,he didn't listed and reached in the carrier to pet her and she slapped the $hit outta him.He came out holding his bleeding hand.LOL.I found it funny,cause I TOLD him to not mess with her.)
Anyway I kept her in a little longer than the 10 days so I could work with her some more.I finally put her back out and now she runs up to me and meows and even lets me pick her up(for just a few secs though,but better than before).
I took a lot of time and patience for me to get her as tame as she is,but it was well worth it.

Sicy it will happen, it just doesn't happen overnight. But if you let it happen on her time and not yours, the bond is unbelievably strong between you and the cat. Look at how pretty she is? Don't you think people have tried to grab her before? She is waiting for you to be just like everyone else, so surprise her and don't be. Take your cues from her, and don't bait her, or mess with her head like that, and just let her come to you- she will, and when it happens, God it is a wonderful feeling.