This morning, I finally was able to pet Ashley for the first time in months. As I was petting her, my fingers could feel so many mats all over her body. A few days ago I had a feeling that something wasn’t right with her. She does generally come out to see me when I’m feeding or visiting within the enclosure. But lately, she’s been virtually nonexistent.
Following my instincts, I placed the top loading cat carrier underneath the feeding platform with the top open. As I was petting her, I gently scuffed her lifted her up into my arms and put her inside the carrier. I carried her inside and put the carrier in the bathroom turned the light off and just let her decompress.
Knowing that her grooming sessions are always so stressful for her, I wasn’t sure I was up to the task. Due to my recent injury during the ice storm, the doctors are now telling me that not only do I need a right shoulder replacement, but I also now need a left shoulder replacement. They’ve scheduled a test for early May to determine the extent of the damage. Regardless of how my arms are not working at the moment, I knew I had to get those mats out of her.
Surprisingly, she did not growl, swat or bite me. I wish I could say that she didn’t poop all over everything including me. That’s just the reaction she gets when she gets handled and brushed. I apologized to her for not being able to do it as I had promised her last year. We had started out on a good note, I was able to brush her almost daily. But then I got injured and re-injured. So all that stopped.
it took two hours just to remove the mats that were under her chin, on her head, by her ears. She has a lot more of mats to remove. I worked slow and methodical. We took a lot of breaks in between everything. Afterword I put her in the introduction cage, knowing full well that I would not get close to her for at least a few months after that grooming session. It may be that she will hide inside the insulated straw covered box for awhile. She has to come out sometime. Next time she does, I will again scoop her up and put her inside the carrier and take her inside to the bathroom, to try to finish what I started.
To be so terrified of a human, during a grooming and de-matting session just breaks my heart. She’s such a beautiful kitty and she would’ve made someone a lovely companion if I could’ve just broken through her trust barrier, and shown her that all humans are not bad.
Perhaps, during the next grooming session, she will at least not poop all over herself, me and the room. That would be absolutely wonderful, because it would tell me that I finally broke through. She is finally ready to trust someone.
What a good thing you were able to do for Ashley. Some day, she will trust you; until then, what you do for her will have to be enough. Despite her fear, she feels better. Well done – and what cost to yourself, too.
I was pleasantly surprised this morning, when I opened up the door to the cage and stepped inside. Ashley came out to greet me and head bump me! I certainly did not expect that. I thought about scooping her up and taking her back inside to see if I could remove more mats, however, today there is tentative plans in place to cover the cat enclosure, depending on if the weather cooperates or not, we are supposed to have some pretty heavy rains. We will see how the angels that are assembling want to proceed once I talk to them this afternoon.. Some of the storms that we’ve had recently are quite different from those in the past