It's almost exactly a month since we adopted Duncan cat, and the change in him has been wonderful !
Photo by my wife
This is what he looks like now. The fur that was so matted it had to be shaved off is growing back nicely, and is wonderfully soft and fluffy. Duncan has started grooming himself, so he's far less scruffy than he was. He has managed to get rid of almost all the knots in his fur that he had when he came to us. Hopefully you can see in this photo that his fur is in much better condition !
But the biggest change is that he has stopped hiding. He happily wanders around the house as if he owns it (it's a cat thing...). He's a very active cat, and it turns out he always wants to play. Although he'll attack the feet of anyone walking past him, it's really cute because he turns out to be totally gentle. He leaps out of ambush, hugs your ankles, and then lets go. He'll occasionally nip, but so far he has never used claws; if he gets annoyed, he'll bat you away with a paw.
Duncan also recognises his name now, and has made friends (mostly through the glass of the back door) with Stevie cat from next door. On the occasions when Stevie has broken in, the two of them will sit together in the kitchen quite content to be near each other.
But there are still a few signs of the abuse he suffered before he came to us. He's easily spooked by sudden movement and loud noises. We think he lived off scraps before because whenever we go into the kitchen, he'll appear and be far too interested in what we're doing !
He's eating well (we've got him on a diet of top quality cat food) and finally started putting on some of the weight he needed to. When we first got him, he was just fur and bones; he's better now but still got some way to go before he gets to a healthy weight.
Hopefully in a few more weeks, we'll be able to let him out into the garden. He's desperate to explore, but needs to have his second round of vaccinations first, and needs to settle in just a little bit more.
All in all, although we had a few wobbles with him in the early days, he is turning into a really lovely, lively friend 🙂
