Jimmy is having a breakthrough!!

Jimmy is going through a "being close to me stage"..

So today I have been pushing him a little. He ate THREE bites off my finger.....

Then promply ran off. This was taken right before the third small bite......

His eyes are wide as though he can't believe he has done it......... I can just see him thinking in this picture wanting it so bad...... It is canned chicken cat food.. He loves it!
Not sure if he will do it again soon as he is on his own timetable.......
He also "watched" the others play with the purple feather. He did not bat it but he sat in the middle of them while they batted it.



And a hummingbird pic I took today. They are all over the place this week. There is a bright reddish one too. I think the one in this picture is the female..


And here is Jimmy watching Hank and JJ play. He is wanting to real real bad.. It's hard for him to decide to play with the feather as it require direct human contact....... hehe Quite the challenge for him.


He is still making progress........ I don't consider him exactly wild any longer. At least not with Juan and I. He is used to use and our presense in every way. He is just solitary still going through changes and still does not want to be touched. It's exactly how it is supposed to be...... and it will keep changing as he adjusts his kitty thinking.....

Some friends of our came over yesterday and brought their three year old to see the kitties. But we were catless. They also startled and froze and then disappeared........ They are still terrified of people other than Juan and I. They will probably always be wild kitties.... Eventually Jimmy will be just like the others.... Getting petted but afraid of everyone else. It still blows me away that my troup of cats is like that. They are absolutely babies with us. They love to be loved on. But if another human being comes around, they abruptly change. In an instant.

Snoopy and Tulip and JJ and Kissy and Toe and Yellow come out and watch.... Snoopy, Yellow and Toe will let strangers pet them. But that is it. I suspect Snoopy and Tulip will not stay this way however as we don't see many people. Kissy, Toe, Yellow and JJ had all seen lots of people and had lots of stranger pet them in their lives... So they are different. They are also the only ones that don't run from the vaccuum. If I want the cats out, all I have to do is hit the switch on the vacuum.... Poof they are gone!! hehe Husband said if we ever need to work on the enclosure, we need to take the vaccuum outside to shoo them in the house.....hehehe

JJ is great with all people. I took the three yr old to the enclosure and he was petting him through the fence. When the child quit, JJ stuck his leg out the wire and tapped the boy on the knee wanting more loving. He is such a good cat.

Here is a pic of the red one........ But this was taken before I worked on my camera... I'll get some more. There are 4-5 different birds. And when we walk out, they swoop and sound like huge bees. They are not really afraid of us. I remember once when I was 10 yr old, in colorado on vacation, one landed on my finger. It was a thrilling moment. I will never forget it. My mother said I was shaking I was so excited. All I remember is being thrilled by this tiny creature on my finger.




They love these flowers. Not sure what they are but I sure like em.....

Jenn,

Sylvester, (my Jimmy look-a-like), managed to escape out of the house about a month ago. I was bringing in groceries one day and it was warm, so I just left the door open when I went to set some down on the table. I think he was lurking on the basement stairs waiting for just such a moment. He knew that meowmy would eventually do some unthinking act such as that.
So now he is back to his old feral ways of standing up on the truck and calling me for his evening meal.

I don't know if you recall that I said I wasn't going to let him out this year and planned on working to get a more comfortable relationship with him. Maybe we can try again this winter.

BTW... As always I am loving your pics and updates.

Great pics, Jenn as usual. Of course, the ones of that handsome tuxedo boy are my favorites. The fact that Jimmy ate off your fingers is huge progress. Heck, if Millie or I had tried that with him we would have lost those fingers.

I remember.......... I do remember you saying that..

It worried me to death watching Jimmy and my door.. I know if he got out he would be gone... Well not gone but out there again. I think if got the other in the house and opened the enclosure he would got inside it like cow did.

Maybe Sylvester will come in like my Star.... She would got out, get hard headed and demand her food and would live on my porch. She would go in and out all the time "in the past" and I never had trouble getting her in... When I frontline it freaks her out. She stayed outside 6 weeks the last time trying to avoid it....

I bet Sylvester will not stay out this winter. He knows where his bread is butters or his kitty toast toasted. ........hehe He's not going to want to get cold.. I made little cheese drops that led into my house once to get Star back inside..... She followed the trail.

Right now star is watching my door too. She knows Toe has been going out with me while I work. I have to watch her close.

I've had her for quite some time..... A couple years or more and I pet her but it's definate not her favorite thing.... does Sylvester like being petted.?? Star will talk to me, play, likes to be brushed but does not purr for me or enjoy being held, petted or loved on.

Hi elly,

I remember you telling me that Jimmy was a biter. I have always been careful or tried to be. He has only scratched Juan's feet as he dashed over them...... which still makes me laugh.... He has nailed Juan's feet several times in fact.

But Jimmy has not gotten me yet... I try to move real slow with him. If he balks at something I usually stop and just tell him it's ok. I never spook him in any way.

But it's been over a year to get him to eat a nibble off my hand. This was the first time. I can judge his moods. The last few days he has hung around me a lot. Watching outside while I work with the other cats. Then when I come in they are glad to see me and he appears to be. He has been laying "behind me" while I type or do stuff... Just watching.

But he seems very calm so I thought I would try this. And it was just the right time. The other cats were outside watching it rain but he was in the kitchen watching me cook. If Jimmy ever decides to be "my boy" I suspect he will be a demanding cat as to his appetites....... He loves to watch me cook and he has learned how to "subtlely beg"......... haha

He is a great cat and so beautiful. Jimmy, Tulip, Snoopy and Star and the most beautiful cats I have ever seen......

Originally Posted by jcribbs

I bet Sylvester will not stay out this winter. He knows where his bread is butters or his kitty toast toasted.

........hehe He's not going to want to get cold.

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He won't come in the house on his own, but he tends to drop his guard a little bit so I can catch him and bring him in. He was coming out in the kitchen talking up a storm once the weather had warmed up letting me know he wanted out, but I kept telling him we needed to work on becoming friends first. I guess he was thinking... "We'll see about that!" LOL

Originally Posted by jcribbs

I've had her for quite some time..... A couple years or more and I pet her but it's definate not her favorite thing.... does Sylvester like being petted.?? Star will talk to me, play, likes to be brushed but does not purr for me or enjoy being held, petted or loved on.

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Sylvester is 7 years old now and has had hard set feral ways since he was a small kitten. I tried to pick him up once when he was about 3 or 4 months old and he managed to spring away from me and pretty much never relaxed his guard when I was around from then on.

My Buddy is a cousin to him and he took a good deal of work to convince to move in with me. I'm not sure he would have come around if he hadn't been gettiing bullied by another cat which allowed me to save him and bring him in repeatedly.

Those darn cats love to make us work and earn their affection!

That's wonderful that Jimmy is eating off of you finger...he's such a handsome guy.

Our cats are hiders too, Jenn.
They all run and hide when anyone comes to the house, but do come out after a little while....most of them any way.

Gracie is usually the first to come out, then Lizzie.

Elliott takes a long time to come out, I don't know that this is a fact but I honestly believe that he thinks a stranger is going to put him back outside and that's the last place that he has any interest in now that he's not stray any more.

Annabelle NEVER comes out when anyone else is here.
I don't know her background, she was in the middle of a busy street just a block from our old house when I rescued her.
Horns were blowing, brakes were squealing and there she was right in the middle and couldn't go either way.
Frankly I'm suprised the traffic stopped for me and that she even let me pick her up...but she did.
I really think she was abused at one time in her life and she doesn't trust anyone but us.

Those darn cats love to make us work and earn their affection!

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AMEN TO THAT!!!!!

It's nice to know that my cats aren't the only ones who run and hide.......

And the work we got to go through "to earn" their love makes the icing on the cake that much sweeter..... dont' ya think?

They have me busting my bootie to just to watch them enjoy themselves..... hehe But I wouldn't have it any other way....

I am so grateful I have a husband like Juan.. Can you only imagine how awful it would be to be married to any animal hater???

Tru and Gracie....... yall are good people...... Gracie, you risked your own life to same poor little Annabelle.... amazing....

We have so much road kill on the roads here. We have one 9 mile stretch of road on the way to work that is filled with animals all the time. Live ones... Deer, badger, rabbits, dogs, cats, beavers and on and on. We drive 30 on this stretch to avoid animals..... I had a wreck not too long ago. Riding along to work in our new little truck going 55 on the way to work....... 11:30 at night....

All of a sudden, four deer were in front of me. I slammed the brakes on and hit two of them with the front of the truck. A third run into my drivers door. I felt his breath as my window was open. I was screaming....... And they all ran off carrying my grill with them. I went to the first turn I could find and went back but did not see them anywhere so I think they lived. But we never go faster than 30 now on that road. We watch for the animals. I was telling my husband years ago before cars there was no road kill..... Now people take it for granted.

Not too long ago, I found a beautiful dead siamese cat in the road. ON this same road. I stopped the car and took him out of road and laid him in the grass and told him I was so sorry he got hit. He was long gone but how could someone hit an animal and just leave them there?? People can be so cruel. They laugh at death. I truely believe everything has some sort of symbiotic relationship, or at least all living creatures and all living things, but us humans are trying so hard to change that with our technology crap.....

As we kill others, we are killing ourselves. We are messing with the scheme of things and I don't know how it will end but we will regret it.....

I just have to post Tulip-tina........ Her and Snoop like just alike.

Oh and yes, we now think tulip is back to being a girl. But we are not 100 percent sure. We dont' see testicles but we dont' see girl parts either. Is there a trick to this??? I would surely hate to post a pic of her butt to get opinoins......hehehehe

Aww, Jenn.
You and Juan are good people too.
Only truly good people would go to the lengths the two of you have for your animals.

As for the Annabelle rescue...I didn't even think about it I just knew I had to get her off that road.
It's like one of those horror movies when the people hear a voice that says "GET OUT" and they stay...I've always said I'd be out of there so fast they wouldn't see me for smoke ...but with Annabelle I wasn't scared I just knew that those cars would stop for me because I was a person...it's to bad they weren't stopping for Annabelle, just blowing their horns.
She was scared to death, poor little girl.

I've hit a deer or two in my lifetime also.
I felt terrible, but there was nothing I could do one second they weren't there and the next they were in the middle of the road.

When I was a kid I hit a cat, I pulled off the road and cried and cried and cried.
My Mom was in the car with me and tried to calm me down telling me it wasn't my fault, that the cat just ran right out in front of me.
I finally got the guts to get out of the car...and no cat.
I looked across the road and he was sitting there on the bank washing his face....then I went to the farm house that was there and it was their cat.
They told me not to worry that they'd take him to the Vet just to be on the safe side, they called a couple of days later and said he was fine...what a relief!

Tulip is beautiful...I'm not good at telling the sex of cats... a dog, a horse a bull or a person...no problem there...but a cat, not so much.
With Elliott there was no doubt he was male, he was 18 months old when we brought him in the house and his "little boy parts" where hard to miss

Originally Posted by jcribbs

I just have to post Tulip-tina........ Her and Snoop like just alike.

Oh and yes, we now think tulip is back to being a girl. But we are not 100 percent sure. We dont' see testicles but we dont' see girl parts either. Is there a trick to this??? I would surely hate to post a pic of her butt to get opinoins......hehehehe

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This link is from a thread on the boards..it should help you determine the sex of your kitty. I know it helped me to FINALLY be able to tell one from the other when it comes to kittens. My brother always told me girls had an exclamation point..now I understand what on earth he was talking about. My cat Owen was "Beru" when we first got him...for months we thought he was a girl until my eight year old son said..."Mommy this cat is a BOY..SEE!!??"..and he pointed out the boy parts that had become obvious. Owen has longish hair and I simply hadn't noticed. When we thought Owen was a female I kept talking about what a block shaped head "she" had...just kept thinking the cat looked male..oh well here's that link...

http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/clientED/kittenSex.asp

I looked at the pictures and looked at Tulip......

I must be an idiot...... I can't tell....... but maybe a boy........

Ok, I think Jimmy is real close to letting me pet him. Willingly....

I fell asleep real early today and got up at around midnight... So I cleaned house and it is now 4am....

Jimmy was sitting in the kitchen watching me. So I went and got a small piece of bologna out of the fridge and very slowly walked up to him. He was sitting on the large dog crate so he was waist high to me...

He let me walk all the way up to him and did not cring, brace himself or look afraid...

He did it so easily that I thought maybe I was mistaken and it was a different
cat........hahaha

Anyway, he smelled the bolongna but did not want it and just sat there with me right beside him. He looked so relaxed I "nearly" reached out to him....

I am a little nervous about actually touching him. I dont' want to scare him but I have to one time and he has to let me.....

Today I am off work............so maybe....

Oh wow, Jenn, that's awesome. Jimmy is so close to letting you pet him! You really have earned his trust by taking things at his pace and not forcing the issue. I can't wait to hear what happens next!

That's wonderful news, Jenn.
You'll be petting and cuddling Jimmy very soon.

Well, after he dashed off at his own boldness last night, he went outside and stayed there until this morning. So so far no new news regarding Jimmy.

But we are so close to a real real petting. He is forgetting he is supposed to be afraid. He has not been spooked in so long that he has nearly forgotten his old ways... At least that's how it looks. He is mostly relaxed all the time.

I have been transplanting grass today with Toe and Cleo helping me. I snapped a good pic of Jimmy also today. He is sleeping in the enclosure this morning. His late night with me left him tired today........

Here he is this morning..... resting..


Here is Toe and cleo helping me this morning. This is Cleo's first time to work with me.




And here is a new pic of their grass. It is growing like a weed.....


And they nearly have a grassy kitty path.... I had planted extra grass in other spots beside the enclosure and I am scooping the sprouts up and placing them on their path.


Not done yet but it won't be long. Juan has counted he need to cut 40 trees at least.

Jenn

Aww, look at sweet little Jimmy just lounging around.

Toe is such a beautiful cat, can't really see anything of Cleo except her butt, but it's a cute butt

Tell Juan to get busy, those 40 trees aren't going to cut themselves down

Well, while Juan was cutting trees..................[ye haw].... he found a baby.....

awwwwwwwwwww... He named him Sarge. After he initially picked him up, the little guy kept following him. He walked into his hands.....





Here he was following Juan to the house. We left him in the woods but he kept coming out and sitting on Juan's foot.... When he put his hands down, the baby just walked back into them....


Toe did not know what to think......


Now back to work..........

Jenn, Sarge and Juan.....

congratulations on your success and thank you for your wonderful patience !

i know exactly how excited you are.... been there a few times. i'm so happy
for you !!

so first.... can you post pictures to that enclosure you have...from the
little i could see of it it looks wonderful !!

i did not go through all the pages so if it is already posted on one of the
pages let me know which page and i'll go look at it.

and second.... holy molys.... where do you live and what is that critter
you guys found in your yard ??!!

Aww, a baby Armadillo.
I guess Juan has a new buddy

Sarge ( love the name BTW ) looks pretty young, I wonder where Mommy is?

Toe was probably thinking, "I don't know what that thing is, and I'm not going anywhere near it."