If you don’t know me by now…

In the last few months, I’ve noticed a number of independent cat rescues making an appearance. While the intention is generally good, and the sheer number of cats needing assistance means people who are happy to help can only be positive, there’s something that concerns me a great deal about a number of them.

As with humans, both nature and nurture play a part in a cats character and behaviour. It can take a number of months to get to know any animals true personality, some of which will often be because of experiences they’ve been subjected to. Sometimes, the cats that go into rescue just aren’t in care for long enough to make an accurate assessment of what individual requirements they have, and that can result in the cats “bouncing back” into rescue because they weren’t quite what the new family expected.

This raises another point. As mentioned in a piece when I first started blogging, (https://www.ailurophile.co.uk/?p=106) something else that can cause a cat to bounce back is that people have often already decided what is involved in sharing their home with a cat. This absolutely doesn’t factor in the uniqueness of each animal. If you don’t have a preconceived ideal of how your cat should behave, or what your relationship is immediately going to be like with them, you’re much more likely to give the cat time to gain confidence in their new home at their own pace. If you’ve already decided on how the relationship between you and your feline will play out, it’s more likely to be setting the relationship up for failure.

Confidence building takes time, and until a cat feels confident it’s unlikely you’ll see them acting entirely naturally.