The story began at the end of October, when an orange tabby cat was dumped, in her cage, in the parking lot of a local vet hospital. She was covered in poop and had to have parts of her tail shaved to remove the mats. I'm doing a co-op at the vet hospital, and I was given the job of caring for the cat daily. She soon earned the name of "Montana."
In the past two months I have gotten more and more attached to Montana. Both the vet hospital and I tried to find a home for her, but it seemed that nobody wanted her. You see, Montana is declawed, and she bites when she feels she needs space; after all, since her claws are gone, she has no other defense other than her teeth. Nobody wants a cat who bites. And if we had brought Montana the the humane society, it was almost guaranteed she'd be euthanized because of her biting.
Last week, I offered the possibility of fostering Montana. And yesterday, after school was out and the Christmas holidays began, we went to the hospital and brought her home.
We're keeping her in a separate room until we're absolutely certain that she'll be fine with Shadow (our cat), Mika, and Wall-e.
She's already met the dogs. First we introduced them, one at a time, while she was in her cage (I realize now maybe not the best idea because she probably felt trapped). Mika wasn't that interested and didn't get too close, but Montana was hissing and growling at her. Then Wall-e got to see. He went right up to the door of the cage and Montana whacked her paw against the bars. It made a big noise, and Wall-e got scared and ran away. I guess that's a good time; I want the dogs to respect Montana and not bother her.
Later in the evening, when Montana was out of her cage (but still confined in the room), my mom brought Mika in and held her, while Montana got to choose how close she wanted to get to her. Mika was nice and calm, and stared at me almost the whole time. (She got some treats for her great behaviour). Montana was very interested and walked closer, and eventually sat down staring up at Mika. She didn't hiss or growl, though.
Montana will probably be re-introduced to Wall-e in the same way today, and sometime next week she'll meet Shadow too.
Now I guess all we can do is try to find a home for her and, in the meantime, see what happens.
Montana is a very lucky cat to have a foster home for the holidays, sounds like she had a rough start in life, hopefully having a little time with a nice family will help her soften up the rough edges! It was very wonderful of you to open up your home and give this beautiful girl a new chance at a good life! Hope it all works out really well and she really fits in.....or finds a fantastic home
ReplyDeleteI think it is awesome that you took in Montana and can give her a loving home at least for awhile! She is unusual because the majority of yellow tiger cats are males!
ReplyDeleteAww..that is so nice of you guys to foster. Hope Montana is able to find a great home.
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