Any hope for our wild cat, accept her as she is, or what?
At the end of last August, we adopted a 7 month only kitten/cat from our local shelter. I chose her because I have an older male cat and was told he would most likely be accepting of a female cat around one year of age. We could not find a one year old and this cat seemed somewhat more mellow than the other kittens when she was in her age and was not a brand new kitten. She had just been spayed a day or two before and I probably did not take that into consideration enough. I was also told that she had been an indoor cat in a a family with other cats and children (although not a crazy amount of cats) and that she was brought to the shelter because the family was evicted. Of course, I see that a little differently at this point than I do now, but my thought was she was an indoor cat who was used to being around other cats and people.
I followed the guidance to keep the 2 cats separated and gradually introduce them. The older cat had some initial aggression, but settled down quickly. The new cat seemed okay initially, scared in a new environment, but okay. She did not want to be held, and I was not concerned. She was terrified of an overhead fan and my friend pointed out she thought it was a bird of prey. Anyway, fast forward and within a short amount of time she became who she is now. She attacks our older cat very aggressively, will bite us hard if we walk by her sometimes (not all the time), growls very loudly especially if we go anywhere near her when she is eating, still does not want to be held or even pet most of the time (she will clean herself urgently if we pet her); sometimes she will come and sit on our laps if we have a soft blanket out and she does like to smell us. she is not quite feral in that she will chose to sit near us frequently and, if we are all busy, she will meow until someone talks to her or notices her.
We put her in a cage at night and she is happy there. This initially started because she was attacking the older cat badly at night. As soon as we put her in the cage, she settles down and is quiet. We dont hear from her until feeding time the next morning. She does fight us when we try to catch her to get her in the cage now, but once she is in she is fine.
I have been hoping she would eventually mellow out and, while there are small positive changes we are coming upon a year at the end of August. I would be willing to pay something reasonable if there is hope of having her be more of a pet, but dont want to just throw money out. We do love her.
I should also mention she has some quirks we find very amusing. We actually call her a "cabbit" because she acts like she is part rabbit sometimes. she stands on her hind legs only very easily. She almost hops instead of running most times...and I cant think of the other quirks, but she has them!
