@sneakypete
I love that story and the fact that you were able to save that cat. Thanks for rescuing her and attempting to save her offspring. I love a story with a happy ending.
Unfortunately, cats aren't a good match for me. I'm actually afraid of them. Over the years, I have rescued and found homes for several cats, had them neutered and given inoculations if I couldn't find a home for them. There were 2 that were born on my patio, and I was able to bond with them before they were too skittish. I kept them fed and watered, and they got all kinds of affection when I took my dogs out back. One of my dogs was totally nuts for one of the kittens. But as is often the case with feral cats, they go missing. I don't know the reason. Maybe someone took them in and made them house cats. Maybe something terrible happened to them. But they eventually stopped coming around.
So the next cat I tried to rescue, I let it come in the house. Unfortunately, she became aggressive toward my dogs after a few days, so she had to stay outside. One day as one of my dogs was on her way back into the house after tending to business, I was holding the cat to give my dog a safe pathway to go inside the house. That &$%# cat jumped out of my arms and attacked my dog, and when I got in the mix to extract my dog from her claws, she shredded me something fierce. My patio looked like a crime scene, and I lost a lot of blood. My friend took me to get medical attention and a tetanus booster. The worst part for me was that I had put my dogs in danger. From that point on, I determined I'd NEVER AGAIN put my dogs -- or me -- in harm's way by rescuing a cat. They're not like dogs who have only one weapon, their mouths. Cats have 5 weapons (mouth and 4 paws with claws). That's too much for me.
I know there are cats with sweet dispositions, but I'm not willing to take a risk ever again. That was a traumatic experience and I still carry the guilt of endangering my dogs. Besides, I don't do shedding dogs, so there's no way I'd have a cat since they all shed. And even if they didn't shed, there's still those claws. {shudder}
@AllThatJazzZ There is a simple and easy solution to that problem. Go to the local animal shelter and tell them you want a cat (better yet,two cats so they can play together) that has lived with dogs and likes them.
Hell,you might even get lucky enough to get the companion dog to that cat at the same time. LOTS of pets at local shelters that are there because their owners died and left them homeless.
My dobie and my mean-ass female calico were strangers,but the the family that abandoned the cat had a bunch of dogs,and she got along good with all of them. I am guessing the dobie came from a family with cats too,because she flat loved that cat,and anybody she didn't know that got to close to the cat got a warning snarl.
BTW,try to stay away from Calico cats. They are not very friendly by nature,and it usually takes them a few years to warm up to you. Mine graciously agreed to live in my house and allow me to provide food and water,and to let her in and out of the house when it pleased her,but it took over 2 years for her to allow me to reach out to touch her without getting snarled at.
She eventually became very affectionate. I just left her alone and let her become socialized at her own pace. One day,out of the blue,she just jumped up on the couch and started rubbing up against me and purring,so I started petting her.
BTW,she was ALWAYS willing to allow me to pick her up and put her in a carry cage when she came home beaten,battered,and bleeding,and I had to take her to the vet. The last fight she got into she took on something big enough it crushed her shoulder when it bit her and left tooth marks all the way through it,yet she managed to make it home on 3 legs after being missing for 3 days. Had to have her leg and shoulder amputated,and she became a house cat against her will after that. It was cancer that finally took her down for the count,and that was a couple of years later. STILL miss that contrary bitch.
