Kirin is a very unhappy kitty, all growls and hisses. Any suggestions on helping a traumatized animal regain its stability would be welcome. Patience may be the key, but it is so hard to be witness to a poor animal's suffering of past hurts.

Improvement with Kirin today. I worked all day here at the computer, door shut to keep the room 'safe,' and, with fits and starts and a few treats, she let herself be petted (but not too long before growling). She watched the birds at the feeder from the window. She explored the tops of the bookshelves. She played with an old toy mouse my grandmother sent years ago that all cats love. When I came back from lunch, she jumped down and, to my amazement, hopped in my lap. I petted, she purred. She curled up and napped. She growled a bit when Glen walked in with the mail but no hissing, stayed in the lap, then back to napping. She stayed over 30 minutes. She has a long way to go but this was a good first leap of trust.

[Note: The PetConnect folks asked us to keep a short diary on her behavior as it changes, so I decided to do that in the comments here for a few weeks.]

More progress with Kirin this week. We had been keeping her apart from our older kitty when we were not in the house, at least until we started coming home to find the door pushed open. So, first during the day then all day and night, we left the door open. At first, they had very defined territories and a few cat fights at 4 am, but this weekend we seem to be down to growling and some hissing between them. I did make the mistake of trying to keep Ashes in my lap when she went by last night and got bit by Ashes--won't do that again. Yesterday, we transfered all Kirin's things (food, water, litter) into the other room (on their way to the utility room), since she is starting to explore the rest of the house. Right now, Kirin is keeping my lap warm. and she hasn't growled or hissed at me today. In fact, I've gotten purrs and little meows. A little progress every day.

Slow progress continues. Glen and I had to both leave town for a few days, which meant Ashes and Kirin had to survive with just twice a day visits from our very patient cat sitter. They survived, with just a few mishaps but certainly no friendlier attitudes to each other. The trouble with us having kept them apart so long is that they defined clear territories. So, last weekend, when one of us was home, we would lock Kirin out of her room after dinner. This forced her to explore and to have to deal with Ashes (though we put him in her room for some times the first few days of this), at least until bedtime when we'd open it back up so she could sleep on her sofa. Initially, she would sit by the door to her room after dinner and look piteous, or hide under the kitchen table when Ashes was visible. But as the days went by she got better, sitting in my lap during dinner earlier in the week. Tonight Glen left her door open and she spent considerable time in the kitchen and hall and dining room. She and Ashes still hiss and growl but they did pass each other in the doorway without a full attack. So some progress. Our main challenge now is the mood swings, from happy to be fed/petted to literally biting the hand that feeds her. I sometimes think we would be making faster progress without another cat in the house, but then, part of the foster training is dealing with other pets. So, she has to negotiate cat manners as well as learn how to be a nice housecat in a human world.

Such progress! Kirin has turned into a social butterfly and outgoing kitty. She sat at the dining table for an evening watching Glen's game and on the sofa during our book club meeting. She has now explored the whole house and will take over a lap on her terms. She particularly loves the earth stove on cold nights. Glen can pet her at almost all times. We have decided she has progressed enough for her to be adopted. She will be appearing on Pet Connect Inc's site soon, but here's a preview of her bio:

"Kirin loves to play with her toys, bits of string, and items found about the house, such as balls of tinfoil. She sits in the window sills to watch the birds and other outside activity. On a cold day, you will find she has crawled in your lap, where she is a fantastic heater. Her favorite food in Fancy Feast, which will elicite tiny meows and a happy face. She is quite social and joins in our human parties, sitting on the sofa or on a dining room chair, like the guest of honor. Kirin has been through some trauma as a rescue from Katrina, possibly in her previous life she was a semi-feral cat. However, she knows her litter box and scratch post manners. And, in terms of handling her, she has made tremendous progress since January. When not on her terms, she can still be skittish and defensive, but she clearly wants to be loved. She needs a wonderful adult cat-person willing to give her the time to continue to develop her sweet cat side."