In the words of Button’s adopter:
“Adopted 14th June 2019. Button was very stressed on the day I picked her up from her foster home, she didn’t stop crying until about 20mins into the drive home and spent her first night behind some books on a shelf. But I was very surprised at how quickly she came out of her shell and even became affectionate towards us (she started giving head boops on her second day), clearly a sign that she had benefitted from being in a fantastic foster home with good humans.
Her relationship with our resident cat, Tiber, can only be described as a “slow-burn”. For the first few weeks we kept the two of them in separate halves of the house with no direct contact, slowly allowing them to get used to each other’s scents and to share positive experiences during meal-times. But when we finally allowed them free access, Button was intent on establishing that she was “boss-cat” (despite being less than half Tiber’s size). Perhaps in response to her previous exposure to other cats, she was determined not to be bullied and instead was quite aggressive towards Tiber, giving him smacks and chasing him up and down the house at every opportunity. Luckily for her, Tiber is much more of a gentle giant and would never retaliate.
While her behaviour towards Tiber was very stressful for us, we gradually realised that this was just Button being playful. Having never had two cats in the family before, we weren’t sure what was playful behaviour and what was true aggression. But after watching some YouTube clips, we decided to persevere and let them work things out. Eventually, the biggest challenge we faced was trying to get Tiber to join in with the play and not just run away from Button every time. He is only now starting to make some progress in this area, occasionally chasing her and giving her a cheeky smack.
So while they are still not the happy-snuggling-cat-buddies we hoped they would be, it is clear that they are very slowly becoming good friends. They always eat together and generally seem to prefer to nap in the same room. They also like hanging out together at the windows and outside in our cat enclosure. And when they give each other cute little sniffs on the face (I call them “smooches”) it gives me hope that their relationship is getting stronger every day.
Button is clearly very happy here with us and we have fallen in love with her as well. She loves napping on top of the couch and in sunny windows, but her favourite spot is right next to my desk where she can keep me company. She takes her play-time very seriously, and loves to chase toy mice up and down the hallway (unless she has Tiber in her sights who is always her favourite target). For a tiny cat she has a lot of energy, and is always making us laugh with her crazy antics. She’s also very skilled in the art of “guilt-snacking”, regularly perching next to the dinner table to coerce some treats from us (her favourite being honey-glazed ham – one time she took a flying leap to bite a piece right out of my hand). She also loves to be picked up and cuddled, almost always rubbing her face on ours in the process.
So to Trisha and to Karris and to all of the other volunteers at Impound Feline Rescue – thank you for bringing Button into our family. Your work makes a real difference to the lives of cats in need, so please keep up the good work. And finally to Kristy and Jason (and family), thank you so much for fostering Button and giving her the best possible start to her future life. Saying goodbye can’t have been easy, but I hope that seeing her flourish in her new home brings you some satisfaction. I also hope that you will continue to foster and share your compassion and generosity with other lucky cats.
All the best,
Todd and Asha (and Button and Tiber)”
