Archives
7:47:00 PM EST
Feeling Quiet
Hearing Adult Alternative Rock
Noelle! Noelle!
Someone brought her and her one kitten in a trap," Cindy, the Rescue Coordinator for CACC in 2002 told me. "The kitten was adopted, but the Mom is on the euth list. Do you think you can take her?
The cat was a solid black longhair with huge green eyes. The eyes peered at me wildly and warily, as if daring me to put a hand out to her. The cat, with that stone, hard look, was not about to readily put her trust in anyone. I did not try to pet her.
"Well, she sure is a looker," I told Cindy. "But, doesn't seem too inviting. Still, I guess you know me. I'm a sucker for the mom's who've been dumped. Sure, go ahead and box her up."
The cat let out a threatening "hiss" when Cindy reached out to put her in a CACC carrier. But, once scruffed around the neck and placed in the box, the black beauty seemed to calm down. "She's just stressed," Cindy assured me afterwards. "I'm sure she'll be a nice kitty when she gets out of here."
About an hour later, when arriving home with the cat, I let her out of the box. She stood in the middle of the bedroom floor and cautiously looked around. When noting my dog, Tina in the adjoining living room, the cat made a fast and aggressive beeline towards my dog with outstretched claws.
One of the claws caught Tina hard in the side of the face and my poor dog immediately shrieked and jumped away in shock! I grabbed the attacking cat and put her in my back office room as fast as I could, shutting the door quickly behind her. Good grief! I thought. I never expected that!
Most cats, when first introduced to other animals, including dogs, seek to avoid, rather than confront or attack. This one was obviously the exception to the rule. I would have to go carefully with her.
Because it was a few weeks before Christmas, I named the coal black cat, "Noelle." But, insofar as her reactions to both, my other animals (especially, Tina) and me, I might as well as named her "Satan." This cat wanted nothing to do with either humans or other animals. She especially hated dogs!
I was not able to pet Noelle. Any attempt to put a hand near her was met with fast-whipping claws that meant business. While I reasoned her hostility to dogs was most likely due to Noelle having been a recent mother and still possessing the "hormones" that propel nursing mothers to protect their young, I could not so easily rationalize her hostility and aggressiveness towards humans. Noelle, despite her exotic looks, was not an "adoptable" cat by any stretch of the imagination.
As the weeks wore on, Noelle's behavior did not improve, though she developed into a truly beautiful cat. She put on weight and her coat was an exquisite, shiny black plume. Contrasted to her bright, luminous green eyes, Noelle was a gorgeous animal.
Still, anytime she was even remotely near Tina, she aggressively went into attack mode. Tina avoided Noelle like a hand avoids fire. I became increasingly nervous that Noelle would seriously hurt Tina one day. Numerous times I had to quickly intervene to prevent a possible disaster.
Still, it occurred to me that while Noelle would not allow anyone to touch or pet her, she seemed to somewhat relax when picked up. She never attempted to "strike" when lifted -- or even grabbed suddenly from behind and held. So far, all my other attempts to "socialize" Noelle had been dismal failures. Would picking her up from behind on a regular basis, possibly facilitate this effort? It was worth a try.
Noelle primarily liked to lounge around the bedroom, sitting on the floor near my bed. I began to sit on the bed and then gently lift her onto my lap. At first, Noelle would only remain on my lap a few seconds and then jump off. But, she did not attempt to scratch. My hands were still intact!
As I continued to do the lifting and holding, Noelle began to stay on my lap longer. One day, she remained long enough for me to attempt to pet her from behind her head. Slowly, I stroked her and after a few minutes, she began to purr! It was a major breakthrough!
More and more, Noelle seemed to enjoy being picked up and held -- and petted! But, she still resisted hands coming directly towards her face. She was only receptive to petting when being held and the handling coming from behind.
As we both became more comfortable with each other, I began to pick Noelle up and walk around the apartment with her in my arms. I cradled her like a baby, sometimes rocking her back and forth in my arms, the way a mother rocks her newborn baby.
Noelle seemed to particularly love that. She immediately went "limp" when I picked her up like a ragdoll. It occurred to me that perhaps she was actually a "Ragdoll" breed! Somewhat popular among the "Cat Fancy" people are long-haired cats known as "Ragdolls" who are noted for going "limp" when picked up. Noelle loved the holding and rocking back and forth. I could do anything with her -- as long as I was picking up and cradling her.
As loving and "mushy" as she had become to me, where dogs were concerned, Noelle was positively vicious. I wondered if perhaps she had some horrible encounter with a dog when she was on the streets as a stray and when she had kittens? Noelle had, after all come into the shelter with only one kitten. Did something happen to the others?
Because, over a period of many months, Noelle had become "socialized" and friendly with people, I reasoned it was now time to seek an adoptive home for her. I began to take Noelle out with us, when Dave, Kathy and I did outdoor set-ups for adoption. But, I always had to warn people with dogs to keep their canines away from our cages. One day, a particular party didn't heed the warning and approached our cages with their big, mushy Bullmastiff.
Suddenly, Noelle lunged to the front of the cage, ears back and flat upon her head and claws outstretched through the cage bars like a lion on attack. She looked like a cat out of a Halloween horror tale or Stephen King novel. Thankfully, the big dog immediately jumped back before one of Noelle's claws could catch him square in the eye.
"Didn't I warn you guys to keep your dog back?" I screamed at the curious onlookers.
"Our dog loves cats!" the man and woman cried defensively.
"That may be, but not every cat loves dogs! Your dog just missed having his eye taken out!"
Noelle was still acting like the cat from hell as the young couple finally moved away with their dog. Dave and I looked at each other and drew a sigh of relief. Needless to say, Noelle didn't get adopted that Saturday.
But, once home, she wrapped herself around my legs and looked up at me with those huge green eyes. "Baby" wanted to be picked up and rocked again!
I picked Noelle up, cooing "Rockabye baby in the tree-top" and swayed her back and forth a number of times. I held her outstretched, above my head and draped her over my shoulders. Noelle was loving it all. Once again, the black fluff, was all purrs. "More of that, Mommy, please.
I did not venture to try and bring Noelle out again for adoption showing. I just couldn't trust people enough to keep their dogs back and I certainly couldn't trust Noelle to act civilized around any dog. If I thought Noelle was bad around Tina, she was a thousand times worse around other dogs she didn't know at all. Noelle had finally come to tolerate Tina -- as long as my little Corgi mix kept her distance from the cat. And while Tina might not be the "brightest bulb in the universe," she knew well to stay away from Noelle.
But, eventually there came a day, when I had a very serious inquiry on Noelle.
My first question to the woman on the phone was, "Do you have a dog?"
The woman didn't have any other pets and she had just lost her cat of 16 years. There was no doubt this woman represented an excellent home for Noelle. I had no reason to turn the caller down.
But, adopting out Noelle turned out to be far more difficult than I could have imagined.
Over the many months I had worked with Noelle and witnessed her evolve from a wary, aggressive, "unadoptable" cat to a lovable mush, I had inadvertently grown very attached to her. "Letting go" of Noelle now was proving to be the biggest challenge of all.
When the woman came to my house to adopt, I picked up and rocked Noelle for what would bethe last time.
"Now, remember, you have to pick her up and rock her everyday! She lives for that. If there is any reason, and I do mean ANY reason, you are not happy with her, you have to return Noelle to me. I really love this cat. Will you send me pictures of Noelle?"
About a month later, Noelle's adopter sent me beautiful pictures of Noelle posing next to some plants along with a lovely note. She was extremely happy with Noelle.
And while I was pleased to know Noelle had found her loving, forever home -- without dogs, I was still missing my "Ragdoll" baby very much.
I was the mother whose "Rock-a-by baby" had finally grown up and moved on.
My arms now so empty without the cuddly coal black fluff laying back in them and purring.
Noelle, whose claws were first utilized as "stay away!" weapons to my dog and me, ironically turned out to be the cat I most mourned and had the hardest time giving up. Still, I had to do what was best for Noelle, the rescue goals for other cats and most of all, my dog Tina. Tina could finally walk around the apartment again freely and breathe easily.
But, not before or since, had my arms been so filled with the fullness and love of a cat only to lose that sense of happiness to the lofty goals of necessity and what was "best" for all.
Noelle had been a very special gift that Christmas of 2002.
Noelle, Noelle!
I still miss you.
****************
Written by mandy787 Blog about this entry |
Add to del.icio.us | 
digg this
