Is there anything I can do to extrapolate the friendship between Mystique (feral cat) and Dougal (pure bred Vizsla, around one year old, male, not neutered) to human friendship/tolerance?
As some of you know (http://www.thecatsite.com/t/242725/...ablished-feral-stray-cat-colony-advice-please,) I trapped Mystique over a year ago (part of TNR) and moved her into my friend's (Trysh) cattery, a room she converted so we can socialize some of the more friendly stray cats I feed. Over the year that Trysh and I have been working with her, she's shown little progress: we can walk around her, almost over her and she won't move; but she still runs under the sofa if we approach her and will not let us pet her. She will sometimes eat fish flakes from our hands.
This week Trysh brought Dougal up to see Mystique just to see how they would get along. Well, Mystique fell in love with Dougal, head butting Dougal, winding in between his legs, sniffing each others' butts and bodies. For the first time, she trilled, purred and laid down with a 'soft' face. When Mystique wasn't looking (she was focused on Dougal), Trysh was able to touch Mystique without Mystique running.
So, does anyone have any advice how to foster this relationship; to have it translate into her being less afraid of humans. I also think Mystique's behavior is more sexual than friendship, although Mystique is of course spayed and Vizula is much larger. (She was pregnant was trapped if that makes a difference.)
Thanks.
As some of you know (http://www.thecatsite.com/t/242725/...ablished-feral-stray-cat-colony-advice-please,) I trapped Mystique over a year ago (part of TNR) and moved her into my friend's (Trysh) cattery, a room she converted so we can socialize some of the more friendly stray cats I feed. Over the year that Trysh and I have been working with her, she's shown little progress: we can walk around her, almost over her and she won't move; but she still runs under the sofa if we approach her and will not let us pet her. She will sometimes eat fish flakes from our hands.
This week Trysh brought Dougal up to see Mystique just to see how they would get along. Well, Mystique fell in love with Dougal, head butting Dougal, winding in between his legs, sniffing each others' butts and bodies. For the first time, she trilled, purred and laid down with a 'soft' face. When Mystique wasn't looking (she was focused on Dougal), Trysh was able to touch Mystique without Mystique running.
So, does anyone have any advice how to foster this relationship; to have it translate into her being less afraid of humans. I also think Mystique's behavior is more sexual than friendship, although Mystique is of course spayed and Vizula is much larger. (She was pregnant was trapped if that makes a difference.)
Thanks.