I just joined the forum, and wanted to post about our new kitty, Olive.
Like many kitties, she has a long and complicated story of how she came to us, which I abbreviate to most as "she was abandoned by a neighbor." I wanted to get out the full, complicated (perhaps boring) rest of the story to catlovers that may understand. My apologies in advance for writing an epic.
We moved into a new rental house last year, and were told by our neighbor that her cat, Olive, used to live in our house and may one day try and get inside. Turns out Olive was her Ex's cat who lived here, and they had gone to a shelter and adopted Olive and Oliver. Olive lived in the house for a while, but "couldn't be litterbox trained" and was peeing on the woman's shoes. Which is how she became an outdoor cat. I have no clue how old she was at the time she was kicked out of her new family's home.
Well, at some point the Ex moved away without the cat, and our neighbor would feed and "care" for Olive. She said she would try to invite Olive in to her one-room inlaw unit but "Olive just wants to be an outdoor kitty" and would never come in. She also had a large Labrador and Oliver, so knowing cats Olive probably never saw this tiny room as her territory, although she did seem very friendly with Oliver.
So that was all we knew. We would see Olive in our backyard sleeping often or grooming. She seemed like an old, skinny kitty with low energy. She wouldn't come up to you, but she would gladly accept chin scratches. Once when we got a pet sitter, and she saw Olive and ask us if we knew the owner because she seemed ill. We said not to worry, that's our neighbor's cat.
This is my first sighting of Olive. Wanting to get in.
Fast forward a few months, and our neighbor was moving away. After she moved most of her stuff out, we still saw Olive around. We asked her if she was planning on moving Olive, and she said no but the maintenance guy would feed her. She did take Oliver with her.
As we watched, we got concerned that Olive was just sitting alone in the backyard, looking dejected. It was also beginning to get cold and Olive never had any shelter at all other than a dirt- and leaf-filled hole in the ground. We took a cardboard box and wrapped it in towels and put it near her spot (all we could do at short notice). She immediately moved into it and it became her new place. We later upgraded it to an outdoor cathouse, and she was kept very dry from a week of rain we were having.
We took her to the vet in case it got colder and she had to stay over with our other cats, and she sat in my arms and purred the whole time. She was perfectly healthy, other than a flea allergy and minor hair loss from overgrooming. The vet also said she this old, low-energy kitty was only 2 or 3 years old.
The new rhythm became us feeding her and snuggling around 9 pm, and also around 6 am in the morning. She would leap into my arms and I would hold her while she would squeak-purr. When she was hungry she would meow and run back and forth to lead me to her food so I could pet her while she ate. I think she needed the Love more than the food.
Then one night it was under 45F outside and she was shivering in my arms. So we brought her inside for the night, and she has pretty much lived here since.
After about a week of her inside, I noticed a bump on her head. I self-diagnosed her with Botfly worms from PetMD (yeah, have to stay away from that one now lol) and we went to the emergency vet. Well, it ended up being a BB she had been shot with at some point and it had entirely healed over. We went home, one BB lighter. This OG (Original Gato) kitty from the streets is one tough chick.
We were initially worried about the litterbox use, and put dirt in it from outside but it's been 5 months now and she has never had an accident. She is also fine being an entirely indoor kitty. She wriggled out a window once while we were gone, and before we could even start the search was meowing at the front door ready for dinner and snuggles.
This poor lovely affectionate cat was so misunderstood and never got the family she craved.
When she’s lonely she likes to climb on my chest and grooms my face. She is so happy to see us all the time. She’s super energetic and playful, and chases string toys until she’s panting. We are so lucky to have this little kitty.
Like many kitties, she has a long and complicated story of how she came to us, which I abbreviate to most as "she was abandoned by a neighbor." I wanted to get out the full, complicated (perhaps boring) rest of the story to catlovers that may understand. My apologies in advance for writing an epic.
We moved into a new rental house last year, and were told by our neighbor that her cat, Olive, used to live in our house and may one day try and get inside. Turns out Olive was her Ex's cat who lived here, and they had gone to a shelter and adopted Olive and Oliver. Olive lived in the house for a while, but "couldn't be litterbox trained" and was peeing on the woman's shoes. Which is how she became an outdoor cat. I have no clue how old she was at the time she was kicked out of her new family's home.
Well, at some point the Ex moved away without the cat, and our neighbor would feed and "care" for Olive. She said she would try to invite Olive in to her one-room inlaw unit but "Olive just wants to be an outdoor kitty" and would never come in. She also had a large Labrador and Oliver, so knowing cats Olive probably never saw this tiny room as her territory, although she did seem very friendly with Oliver.
So that was all we knew. We would see Olive in our backyard sleeping often or grooming. She seemed like an old, skinny kitty with low energy. She wouldn't come up to you, but she would gladly accept chin scratches. Once when we got a pet sitter, and she saw Olive and ask us if we knew the owner because she seemed ill. We said not to worry, that's our neighbor's cat.
This is my first sighting of Olive. Wanting to get in.
Fast forward a few months, and our neighbor was moving away. After she moved most of her stuff out, we still saw Olive around. We asked her if she was planning on moving Olive, and she said no but the maintenance guy would feed her. She did take Oliver with her.
As we watched, we got concerned that Olive was just sitting alone in the backyard, looking dejected. It was also beginning to get cold and Olive never had any shelter at all other than a dirt- and leaf-filled hole in the ground. We took a cardboard box and wrapped it in towels and put it near her spot (all we could do at short notice). She immediately moved into it and it became her new place. We later upgraded it to an outdoor cathouse, and she was kept very dry from a week of rain we were having.
We took her to the vet in case it got colder and she had to stay over with our other cats, and she sat in my arms and purred the whole time. She was perfectly healthy, other than a flea allergy and minor hair loss from overgrooming. The vet also said she this old, low-energy kitty was only 2 or 3 years old.
The new rhythm became us feeding her and snuggling around 9 pm, and also around 6 am in the morning. She would leap into my arms and I would hold her while she would squeak-purr. When she was hungry she would meow and run back and forth to lead me to her food so I could pet her while she ate. I think she needed the Love more than the food.
Then one night it was under 45F outside and she was shivering in my arms. So we brought her inside for the night, and she has pretty much lived here since.
After about a week of her inside, I noticed a bump on her head. I self-diagnosed her with Botfly worms from PetMD (yeah, have to stay away from that one now lol) and we went to the emergency vet. Well, it ended up being a BB she had been shot with at some point and it had entirely healed over. We went home, one BB lighter. This OG (Original Gato) kitty from the streets is one tough chick.
We were initially worried about the litterbox use, and put dirt in it from outside but it's been 5 months now and she has never had an accident. She is also fine being an entirely indoor kitty. She wriggled out a window once while we were gone, and before we could even start the search was meowing at the front door ready for dinner and snuggles.
This poor lovely affectionate cat was so misunderstood and never got the family she craved.
