And My Evening Gets Even Better Yet. Hope's Adoptor Backs Out

So Hope's adoptor backed out. She'd thought better of taking on another cat. She said she figures her male cat will attack Hope and that wouldn't be good. Before I thought she said both her cats were benign. I guess it's just one of them who is rather shy and elderly. She said there are two feral females outside in the park, but nobody feeds them. I said, I can trap them and get them fixed. She had said when her male cat goes outside, he attacks those females. This is why she knows her male would likely go at Hope if she adopted her.

She said one of the females had kittens under another trailer last summer and they took them to Heartland and plan to do the same with the females. I said "They kill ferals there, you know that, right?" She said "Oh no they don't. They're no kill. They say that right on their website." I told her to just call them up and ask about what they do with ferals and they'd tell her what happens to them if they are brought in, that they're killed. She didn't want to believe that, I don't think.

So anyhow, she'd seen Hope's story on my petfinder site right after I posted it, and her story is so poignant, she wanted her immediately, but then she thought about how she'd fit in, with her male aggressive to other cats, and changed her mind. I didn't want to hear that, of course, but I want a home that works for Hope.

She's doing better today. I left her alone all day, so she was desperate for attention and much nicer about it tonight.

Owners can give animals or even kids bad habits quickly by reinforcing bad behaviors. Now I've got to undo any habits Hope acquired that would not be considered nice by someone wanting to adopt her. I'm hoping it won't take long. When you have a hard life, as Hope has, compounded by a horrific injury, like she had, then go from one place to another, as she has, you get some issues. You can't help it. then if you add an overly nice fellow trying desperately to make things work out between Hope and his cat, and maybe spoiling her just a tad, too, and then it didn't work out at all in the end, the cats gets even more issues.

So she's got issues, and I'm trying not to make them worse. She wants to make friends with all the cats here, possibly excepting Dex, who can be a big fat bully, but Hope doesn't know how. It's like a person trying to fit into a huge established group of friends. How do you do that? Some people are good at it, some aren't.

First impressions last and I don't want her to make bad first impressions with the cats here. Some of my cats are forgiving and understanding of bad first impressions, like growling and hissing. They understand she's new and scared. Moby and Miss Daisy are understanding. Shady and Brambles and Mooki and Vision and Panda and Solomon---all understanding cats.

But, Dex and Comet and Cattyhop, the little bully gang with Dex the ringleader, and Comet the no balls follower, they're not understanding. They like to cause misery. Until they're on the receiving end, that is. Typical cowards. Hopi never forgives anything. Doesn't matter. Hopi can be a bitch to another cat, whether she likes the cat or not. So I got her who is that way, the bully gang, and then the rest, who are good decent cats, with good understanding forgiving hearts.

Comet and Cattyhop only act like bully's when following Dex's lead. She's being a bully because she is frustrated with the way things are here, confined to the inside, and so she takes her frustations out on other cats. If I give her extra attention, play and love, the bullying ends. I wonder how many of these behaviors are mirrored in human populations.

Hopi is just a natural born bitch. And she likes being a bitch. Hopi will never change. I love her anyhow. She's totally self-centered.

Anyhow, some cats never forget bad first impressions and hold grudges. These are usually cats who have issues themselves, I find.

I knew her before, out there on the streets, when she was suffering so. I know her true character because I saw what she was like under extreme duress. Shining, Courageous and True. So I think she'll revert back to that, if allowed to and encouraged to. She's a wonderful girl, who has been through hell and lived through that with grace.

That Corvallis woman injecting herself into something she would never finish prolonged Hope's problems, but I hope to find her the best home I possibly can in the end. In the end, for Hope, I just want her to be loved and happy forever.