I am the mother of 4 rescue cats and it was a full house for me! But one day a rescue friend told me she had found a young longhair Siamese on the street and if she couldn't find a foster, he was going to have to go back. New Orleans is beginning to have coyote attacks and with dogfighters also stealing cats for bait, I couldn't let this baby return to the street. My friend said you could tell he was domestic once but now seemed pretty wild. So I thought maybe he could live in our house as a feral.
I brought him home and he disappeared. The other cats didn't seem to mind that he was there. Once in awhile, watching tv at night, I would see a white blur disappear out of the corner of my eye. We lived like this for about 3 months. Then one morning, I woke up and saw him sitting in a sunbeam in my bedroom. He finally felt safe to explore in the day and I watched him slink around carefully. Then another morning, I woke up, stretched in bed---and felt needles go into my feet! I swallowed a scream as I quickly realized what was happening---he was at the foot of the bed, playing with my feet! But the poor baby had such long curved nails that when he played they would cut my feet and my white sheets were speckled with blood. I didn't mind, though, because this was a huge breakthrough. I put heavy socks on to minimize the cutting and kept playing with him every morning. And 4 months after he moved in, he let me pet him!
I named him "Michonne"---you know, the girl with the samurai sword who leaves a trail of blood on THE WALKING DEAD? And he learned his name and has bonded with all of the other cats. He goes to all of them for baths and love and is now my darling. And in the world of strange things, I believe now he is half Siamese and half Maine Coon!
New Orleans, LA
