Okay that might be exaggerating just a little bit but it got your attention didn't it?
Squeaker and Golden Boy were two fosters I will never forget and who taught me so much. They came from a Breeder seizure done by Animal Control, nine Bengals came out of the most appalling conditions. I already had one Bengal from there someone went in independently and rescued so I heard first hand how bad it was.
Imagine a dark basement, cages piled one on top of the other, not cleaned properly, urine and faeces dripping everywhere, the scent so noxious you could smell it from the driveway. Cats not vaccinated, no medical attention, if sick they got over it or they died. Bengals so ill bred they were actually deformed according to breed standards and therefore had health issues because of it. They were fed sporadically and they were starving. Worse than all of this they were unsocialized save for one 15 year old named Cougar who will probably live out his days in his foster home.
All nine of these cats were considered unadoptable by the shelter and would all have been euthanized. This is a record of how I took two of the three I had and made them adoptable. I will preface it by saying that the third cat I had, Sophie, had to be euthanized after I had her for 7 months. Our vet said we did the right thing, Sophie was so psychologically damaged and so ill bred that she probably had no awareness her circumstances had changed and her quality of life was so poor, euthanizing her was a necessity. I cried with anger that day at the person who ultimately brought a cat into the world that should not have been born and killed her at only two years old.
I chose Squeaker and Golden Boy to come with me. It was an unconcious selective process, I already had a girl with me, boys would be easier. Squeaker was the only cat to approach me and sniff at my finger, he was engaging his nose as Cesar Milan would say. Golden Boy I took simply because he was a pretty golden color, unconciously I think I knew his chances of getting adopted purely because of his color would be higher. Squeaker was three years old, Golden Boy was five.
This is Golden Boy in a characteristic pose from the early days. You can see he is tucked up. This is not a relaxed pose, in this position he is always ready for flight. In this photo something had attracted his attention so he was looking the other way, most of the time he would have his attention fully on me to see what I was doing. The cage is 5ft tall and over 4ft wide with shelves, I have two in the foster room and Squeaker would use the outside of these as his personal jungle gym. One is positioned by the window and has a wooden platform on top so that the cats can look out of the window at the back yard if they want to. The other has no platform but that never stopped Squeaker climbing.
This is my favorite photo of Squeaker, it shows his pattern just beautifully. If nothing else Squeaker is a great representative of survival of the fittest. He is just a mass of compact muscle.
I have been asked what did I do to tame these two cats and that was difficult to explain because a lot of what I do is pure instinct. But things have come back to me that were effective. Firstly I read a lot about handling feral cats because basically they were. I also talked to and wrote to others who had feral experience to help me. But ultimately it was pure instinct and timing.
At first I had furniture in the foster room and these cats hid all the time. Squeaker hid behind the sofa and Goldie under the hutch. Goldie would poke his head out to get food but run if I approached and hide again. Squeaker would not approach at all if I was near the food.
It was suggested that I cage the cats and I intended on caging Squeaker first because I knew he would be the easiest, but it was Goldie I trapped in there. Sophie was also caged at the time, but it didn't work for her at all. It didn't work for Goldie either. I would open the upper door and put my hand inside slowly. Goldie would literally throw himself at the cage walls while hissing and spitting at me and threatening to attack. I would keep perfectly still and just hold my hand near him while talking to him softly. I wanted him to 'engage his nose' as Cesar would say. Yes I know that Cesar is a dog specialist, but his teachings on energy are also very useful when dealing with cats. And the techniques I learned with horses at an early age were also useful.
With cats slow movement and confidence are key. Just like with an aggressive dog if you move in an antagonistic jerky way that dog will attack. A cat will threaten just like a growling dog and I have found that Bengals are more likely to simply communicate in this language than other cats. I learned that from my own Sakura who would complain at me like a miniature Jaguar but was complaining TO me not threatening me, there is a difference.
Bearing this in mind I ignored Goldie's show of aggression through fear and kept still and quiet. I would not withdraw until he remained still and stopped threatening. Those tactics ceased when Goldie escaped from the cage.
By that time Squeaker was coming close enough to sniff and letting me touch him briefly so I changed tactics with the cats.
Asian Leopard Cats have Dens or trees. I believe this is why a lot of Bengals like boxes and burrowing under blankets and being up high. For them they are just following natural instinct. However, when you are trying to socialize a cat giving them any place to hide initially is not the best move. A Den is for safety but it is also a place that is easy to defend against predators.. and guess what we are folks? So the next thing was to have every piece of furniture removed from the foster room.
I kept a strict routine, I would feed wet food and change the water twice a day and also clean the litter trays. When I did this I ignored the cats. After a little while they began to associate those food times with good stuff, they had dry down all the time but the wet was a big treat for them, I doubt they had ever been fed wet food and so when food came they would approach. That was the time I would go in just to visit and I would target Squeaker because he was quite simply the easiest, bold and curious as soon as he discovered how good being scratched under the chin was he wanted it all the time. I am very blessed I had Squeaker because he was the one who helped me with Goldie.
I can remember Squeaker would be on the top shelf of the cat cage and I would pet him, Goldie would bounce from shelf to shelf in agitation and then one day he simply came over to see what Squeaker was purring for. As he rubbed against Squeaker so I began to fuss Goldie making sure that he got my scent covered as it was by Squeaker's scent. As soon as I was able to do that it was all downhill from there. Goldie hissed, I ignored him. I focused on Squeaker, Goldie wanted attention too. And that was how it went.
Goldie was funny because he would hiss all the time, even when I brought food Goldie would hiss at me, so I began to train him not to. It frustrated the hell out of Squeaker because they fed from a double bowl but as I lowered the dish and Goldie hissed I would say NO and lift up the bowl, we continued this until he stopped hissing and then he was allowed to eat.
I still remember the night I picked up both of the boys. It was just a whim, I took a deep breath and just put my arms under Squeakers belly and lifted him, he didn't fight, I carried him into the living room and said, look what I got to James. I then took an even bigger breath and lifted Goldie, who I lifted only briefly and then set down.. and then I burst into tears. It was one of the best moments of my entire life.
Squeaker and Goldie went to a wonderful home near the Missouri border with dogs and quarter horses and a vet for an Aunt. They couldn't have gone to a better place and it is a home that has been prepared to work with them as they transition to living in a real home. I think about them often.
