update on blackberry

There's really not a whole lot new to share. I just thought I'd post to say that Blackberry is calm. Extremely calm. So calm that I suspect she's coping with her new world by refusing to get involved with it. She spends her days in the sink, lets us pet her all day, touches noses with Betsy (our other cat) if Betsy sniffs her, eats turkey out of my hand (as long as I hold it under her nose while she's in the sink), does her major eating and litterbox using at night. She rarely purrs, never meows, hasn't hissed in days, rarely is startled by noise. She did chase a string with a bead on it yesterday, but half-heartedly. She was obviously interested in the string, but was not willing to venture out into the open space of the bathroom to really pounce. She still seems very tired.

She was trapped one week ago tonight; spayed last Friday.

We're leaving everything status quo, hoping she'll open up soon.

Honestly, I think that's pretty good. Thanks for the update!

My only suggestion would be to give a well-worn and unwashed piece of your clothing to her as some sort of a resting towel. She will get used to having your scent near her. Remember I am not some big expert, but my first goal was to firmly establish myself as Nano's owner/caretaker.

Does anyone believe I should be trying to draw Blackberry out? She's 6 days post-op, and I've seen her jump up on the counter (to get in the sink), so I believe she's physically okay. But once she's in that sink, she hardly lifts her head. It's like she's burying herself to avoid us. She doesn't attack when we pet her, but she's definitely tense. I'm not sure whether we should keep doing what we're doing, leave her alone more, or try and engage her.

She was out of the sink for a few minutes tonight, so I played with her with the bead string a little. She chased it with her eyes and batted and bit at it, but then retreated behind the toilet. I petted her, then lured her toward me with a piece of turkey. She came forward a few inches, but that clearly was all she was comfortable doing, so I came to her and fed her the turkey, which she took out of my hand.

I'm afraid if we don't attempt to draw her out, she'll stay in her shell and we'll have a cat that just lives in our sink for the next 15 years. But I'm also afraid if we move too fast, she'll retreat more or lash out.

She's not going to live in the sink for fifteen years. Well, probably not.

Many strays are exposed to abuse from humans during their time on the streets and it takes a lot of patience to build trust.

Around the second week of caring for Nano, I accidently stepped on her tail (barely) and she refused to interact with me for the rest of the day. This morning I firmly stepped on her entire body while walking to the bathroom, but she let out a short grunt and three seconds later all was forgiven. It does get better...but setbacks happen all the time.