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Coloration: Tortoiseshell
Likes: It's hard to tell yet, I adopted her on 5/18 because she acted so scared I figured nobody would adopt her, and after I took her home and she settled in, it has become obvious her temperament problems were due to pain from a pelvic fracture.
Pet-Peeves: Being dumped at the humane society on 5-12-09 with "Unwanted by owner" on her cage card, 11 years old with a pelvic fracture which went unnoticed by humane society ppl.
Favorite Toy: I don't know yet, she's old, obese, and in pain and needs to heal before her true personality becomes known.
Favorite Nap Spot: On a soft towel with a heating pad on low under one part of the towel.
Favorite Food: Right now, it's whatever I can get her to eat that also helps her move her bowels, other than that she eats Science Diet.
Skills: She managed to somehow mesmerize me so I simply HAD to adopt her from the shelter!!!
Dwells:
indoors
Arrival Story: I went to the humane society to rescue a cat whose thoughtless owner dumped there (the owner was an acquaintance of mine and I had been at her house just days before she moved and took her 3 big dogs with her, she said nothing at all about not taking one or both of her cats.) My old Siamese, Mew, had passed on March 2 after a long struggle with age-related kidney failure and after that, I had been looking for a rescue Siamese. That's what led me to the shelter where, to my shock, I found my acquaintance's cat. I looked around at the other cats in the shelter and Hallie just suddenly and forcefully caught my eye and I felt so strongly she wouldn't have any chance to be adopted unless I took her. She was hiding in the back of her cage so frightened (and in pain though I didn't know that until after I got her home and could observe her) that she would urinate when someone tried to handle her. She would growl and hiss and I also knew that most people wouldn't know how to deal with those things either. So I adopted both cats, Victor & Hallie and took them home to join my other 11 cats.
Bio: Not yet at this time...although if Hallie could talk, her story would probably be terrible but at least it's having a happy ending as she rests and heals in my bathroom with her bed of soft towels, with a heating pad on low under one end for her to enjoy the warmth when she feels like it. She has a very shallow litter pan so she can easily get into it without having to go more than a few steps from her bed, since she is in a lot of pain when she walks. Her food and water are right by her bed, and there are toys available for whenever she decides she feels like playing again. She is very talkative, I suspect that she has Siamese blood in her background because I've found that although many cats with Siamese in their background don't show it in their appearance, they show it in their talkativeness. Hallie has learned to enjoy being massaged around the face and neck and to enjoy grooming as long as nothing goes too close to her painful back end. I'm glad I adopted her.
Updates...The second photo of Hallie was taken 6-8-09. You can see how crooked her rear end is because of the broken pelvis. You can also see she looks skinny from above but at the same time had a lot of loose skin and fat hanging down her sides. I don't understand the reason for that strange condition except to say that as with everything else, this too is improving over time.
The second photo of Hallie shot from above was just taken 10-11-09. You can see from this one and the next two photos, how much her physical condition has improved. You can also see how she has become confident enough to relax and do such things as roll over in the presence of humans.
The last photo was taken on 9-3-09, of Hallie contentedly perched on the bathroom "throne." The toilet is her favorite perch although she has learned to get down when I need to dethrone her temporarily!
Forums Motto: Please consider adopting an older cat!
The Groups I'm In: Olde Furts
The Last Forum I Posted In: Weird cuddle behaviour.
I've Been On Catster Since:
When I locate which drive and which computer the files for Hallie's diary updates are on, I will edit this with more specific dates.
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June 19 2009
At about 9 pm tonight, June 19 2009 Hallie WALKED for the first time, taking a few steps. I had been petting her, then stopped petting her and went a few feet from her and she got up and walked over to get petted again.
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Before that, Hallie would get around with a movement I can best describe as a crawl.
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As soon as Hallie became able to jump again, she immediately assumed ownership of the bathroom throne! One day when it was necessary for me to dethrone Hallie, I brought a grooming rake with me. Hallie needed to have dead undercoat groomed out. To my surprise, Hallie LOVED being groomed. She started rubbing the sides of her head against the rake teeth, scratching the areas she wanted scratched. I was surprised that this cat who obviously has suffered a lot of abuse, loves to be groomed.
Hallie still reacts in fear to certain things. As is typical of cats and many other animals when scared, she will growl and hiss and display aggressive behavior in an attempt to mask her fear. The sight of a broom or a vacuum cleaner will make her show fear-aggression. She is afraid of water. If even a few drops hit her, she shows fear-aggression. Changing the trashbag in the bathroom wastebasket scares her. Any movement that's made too fast when walking or standing up from sitting, will scare her. What happened to Hallie to cause these fear reactions, I can only guess at.
So far, Hallie is also still scared of the other cats. I sometimes stand and hold the bathroom door open a moment so she can see the other cats (somebody usually is in the hallway outside the door). She will act curious and then hiss and retreat at which point I shut the door. I don't want to push her. Pushing a cat will achieve nothing except resistance and deeper fear. Time and patience are two of the biggest necessities in working with a fearful cat.
Hallie was adopted on 5-20-09 after being dumped on 5 12 09 at Humane society, 11 years old, stated reason was simply that her owner didn't want her anymore.
I had gone to the Humane Society to look at another cat I'd heard about and I was walking around their cattery just to see all the cats that were there, when I first noticed Hallie in the back of her cage trying to hide under her bed.
I have always paid particular attention to the older cats in shelters because they have so much more difficulty getting adopted than kittens and young cats have. To me, its a vicious tragedy when someone dumps an old cat they have had for many years, in a shelter. Thus it was that Hallie caught my eye.
Instantly I had a very strong intuitive feeling that I needed to adopt Hallie and get her out of the shelter. I felt so strongly that if I didn't take her, Hallie would never get adopted. She was nasty, growling and hissing and striking out with her (declawed) front paws at anyone who got too close to her. She also spontaneously urinated whenever someone tried to touch her.
Having bred and showed a variety of breeds of cats in the past, having shown HHP, having been a cat show judge & 4-H judge, having managed catteries for breeders when they were at shows or on vacations, I wasn't intimidated by Hallie's show of fear aggression.
When I filled out the form to adopt Hallie, one of the shelter workers "helpfully" informed me that Hallie "submissive wet like a dog does" with fear when you touched her. Since cats do not submissive urinate as dogs do, I disregarded the comment. I assumed the wetting was due to extreme fear.
Upon arriving home, I put Hallie into a large cage that was mostly darkened by a blanket covering the top and sides. I've found through experience that giving a scared cat a cge where they can hide and feel safe and watch the world through the open front of the cage, is the best way to calm & start socializing a scared or feral cat.
However, it quickly became apparent that much more was wrong with Hallie than fear. She could not stand up or walk. Thus, I moved Hallie to the bathroom, set up a thick towel on the floor for her to lay on, and gave her a very low-sided litterpan so she could easily crawl into it.
It also became very obvious that most of Hallie's aggressive behavior was PAIN & fear induced. I found out Hallie enjoyed having her head and ears scratched but was terrified of having her body touched. Between Hallie's inability to walk, her spontaneous urination when she became fearful that her body might be touched, and her overall fear-aggressive behavior, I suspected that she had a broken pelvis and had been dumped because of the injury.
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