50/50

There is a saying with feral kittens over 8 weeks you have a 50/50 chance they will be tame.

With Harley and Quinn that's what happened. Harley was very tame and Quinn was not so much. She wasn't (yes, we found out that Quinn was a she)bad, horrible or anything she just did not like to be touched.

Mark's parents adopted both 3 years ago, which I was thrilled. Unfortunately Mark took them over while I was in Ireland.

Sadly, after a few days Quinn disapeared. The 5 of us tore the house apart looking for her but we did not find her.

7 weeks later she was found under the kitchen cabinets (we still don't know how), she was skin and bones. She was taken to the vets who said she had a very slim chance and to be honest mentally she was gone.

I had to see for myself so Mark's Dad came and picked me up to take me along to see the vet, as soon as I saw Quinn I knew. She was gone, and she wanted to be completely gone. I stroked her head and spoke to her as the vet injected her. She meowed one last time and then was gone forever.

It was heartbreaking.

I have her ashes on a shelf in the kitchen next to Little Girl and Mom. And I will never forget the little black kitten who brought so many laughs into my life.

On a happier note, Harley is still with Mark's folks and enjoying her life as a beloved house cat. We aren't sure she moves a lot as she loves one of the chairs but she has become a real people cat.

Step in the right Direction

Quinn has finally taken food off our fingers!

It’s a small step but its one in the right direction. He’s been coming closer day by day and on Sunday we sat in the kitchen will all 5 cats hand feeding them sardines in tomato sauce.

My husband got Quinn to go to him first and he just kept coming back for more!

Got him

I managed to clip Quinn’s claws finally.

He’s taken to clawing at my kitchen table so that will have to be sanded at some point.

I got him to go into the library and then spent 10 minutes playing the in circles game until he finally let me pick him up.

Didn’t make a peep once I had him and allowed me to clip the claws without so much as flinching, I then gave him a load of treats to make up for it all.

Harley continues to do very well, she’s stalking Lirael back which is fun to watch and enjoys coming up for a bit of fuss.

Quinn is slower and still unapproachable but I believe he’s starting to get the idea that I won’t grab him.

Update

I had been trying to update this once a week at very least with the progress of Harley & Quinn.

Unfortunately my mom passed away on the 15th August which has thrown everything off.

On the 16th Harley & Quinn went back to the branch runner of CAT1977 to stay while we were in the US, we had no idea if they would be coming back or not.

When we arrived home on the 22nd I called and they were still with the branch runner and he promised to bring them over later that day. About 9pm we got them as they didn’t’ want to go into the carrier and do get a bit upset when it comes to travel. I put them in the library for the night thinking they’d be scared, upset and not wanting to run amok in the house.

So all night they threw themselves at the library door wanting out, about 5am I caved in and let them out. Harley came right up to me tail up wanting fuss and Quinn was happy to run around.

Both saw Penguin and immediately rubbed all over him giving him headbutts and kisses.

This morning while putting the plate of wet cat food down I managed to stroke Quinn, just for a second and he didn’t run. It’s a small step but for Quinn it’s a huge one!

The other week when trying to clip Quinn’s nails he bit the heck out of my arm and I bled all over the bedroom before finding a plaster, so like I said it’s a huge step for this little cat.

Leaps and Bounds

It’s been a few days, well more than a few really.

Harley is coming along very well, you can go up to her slowly and waggle your fingers and she’ll sniff and then allow you to pet her.

Quinn has pretty much stopped hissing & growling at people although you still can’t get close.

Harley is a girl! It was confirmed on Sunday as she let me pet her tummy. Still no idea about Quinn though were assuming Quinn is a boy based on his huge paws.

We’ve let both out of the library into the main house and they are loving it. They tend to stay under our bed when sleeping but are out and running around when they are awake.

Penguin is their hero. They adore him to no end and will go right up to him and rub against him whenever he is around. Unfortunately Penguin isn’t used to this and tends to run.

Harley likes to lay on the computer desk and lay with Mark at night. Quinn just likes to attack feet and anything that moves.

They are adorable and a lot of fun, even if they do wake me up a few times each night for various reasons I love them. Which will be a problem when its time for them to leave.

The way to a cats heart is via their stomach

Harley took the sardines in tomato sauce off my fingers last night, she almost took my fingers!

This morning she was happy to see me and let me hold her, within a minute I had her purring her head off.

I’d let Penguin in with them for a while last night and though he threw up (hairball) him and Harley were both in the window when I came up to let him out.

Quinn I took downstairs to sit with us and fed her sardines by pushing it in her mouth and then she would lick it off my fingers. I gave her a good helping of it once we were back upstairs.

Some days I despair thinking I’m a horrible foster mom and will never get these two to be people cats and then they go and surprise me.

Smoke and Lirael are getting closer to Harley and Quinn before they hiss so about another week or so and I’ll have 5 cats running through the house!

Trust is hard to earn

Little Quinn is still hissy/growly, last night I gave both Quinn and Harley some sardines in tomato sauce as a test to see if they like it. And boy do they. So tonight I’ll see if I can get either to take it off my fingers.

Both kittens seem to like Penguin and Harley purred at him.

So I’ll be taking Penguin in more to visit them. Lirael & Smoke are still very growly.

On Friday we’ll be out having dinner, seeing Die Hard 4.0 and buying Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

I plan to come home at 1am set up in the library with the kittens and read the book so that’ll be a lot of time spent with them and hopefully I can get Quinn to come around a bit more.

Harley will even let me stroke her a bit.