Is it possible for feral cats to become friendly and domesticated? Indeed, they can! Read this touching story submitted by Sandy L about her cat Bentley. (See post REMEMBER BENTLEY?)
Bentley showed up at my home nearly 3 years ago. I was taking care of a colony of four feral cats on my street here in Palm Beach.
As was our custom, I opened my front door around 7 a.m. to see who would greet me and eat breakfast. Normally all four were waiting – Sweetie, Thug, Tigger and Cookie. But one morning I saw a different little head peeking around the corner. When I tried to coax the new arrival out, he looked at me with what I thought was a very quizzical expression with his head tilted completely to one side.
That first day we made eye contact but he ran away as soon as I tried to approach him.
He certainly smelled the food the others were enjoying but he wouldn’t show himself again for a few days. (It turned out that he and Tigger had a long standing territorial feud going on.)
The next time I saw him I was able to get a better look and noticed that he was still looking at me with that quizzical expression. His head was bent almost completely to one side.
Over the next few days, he allowed me to observe him for longer periods of time. Soon I realized that his head was permanently in that position.
Immediately I thought the worst – that he had been severely injured. So I called Wink, the field director of Palm Beach Island Cats, and asked her to take a look.
We made plans to meet at the earliest opportunity, and Wink came out a few days later. We were fortunate that Bentley showed up at the right time when she was there. Immediately, she diagnosed him with vestibular syndrome – probably due to eating a poisonous lizard or maybe had suffered a bad ear infection.
I was relieved to know he wasn’t in pain but also sad that he probably would have this permanent condition. There seemed to be no remedy.
As weeks and months went by, there was a shift in the balance of power in my little colony. One day Tigger stopped showing up – and Bentley had taken his place. He became more and more confident about approaching me and other cats at meal times.
He started to show up every day, twice a day to take his place at the “dinner table.” He still would not let me pick him up but he also didn’t immediately run away when I approached.
We agreed to love each other from a distance for the next several months. Finally one day, Bentley showed up looking the worse for wear. He was sick and on some level he knew he needed my help. He allowed me to pick him up and take him in the house – a first!
I called my wonderful vet, Dr. Mary Ellen Sculley at Island Animal Hospital, but she was off that day. So we saw Dr. Susan Spilker, who also is very good. She diagnosed Bentley with a severe respiratory infection that would require 10 days of antibiotics.
I returned home, put Bentley in the spare bedroom and did my best to make him comfortable. He understood that he needed my help and allowed me to give him his medication daily.
Every night I would go to bed and wait to hear him start howling to go outside, but he never did. Not until Day 8 of his confinement. By then I knew he was feeling better.
That was the turning point.
Every day since then, for the past three years, Bentley has been a constant presence.
At the time I was caring for the outdoor colony, I had two indoor cats of my own – Beau and Lily. Predictably, Beau and Bentley became the best of friends and would often play together when Bentley felt like coming inside.
Sadly, over the last three years they have all gone with the exception of Cookie and Bentley. Lily died from breast cancer. Sweetie and Thug were trapped under a neighbor’s house when it was tented for termites and did not survive. And my darling Beau (who was a rescue cat from my stint in Costa Rica) got out of the house on Halloween night 2012, and I never saw him again. I still look for him every day and call his name. But he is a solid black cat, and I fear the worst.
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