Day 6: The breakthrough

Last night during his Forced Lovin' time, I made Gus sit in my lap and eat wet food while we petted him, scratched behind his ears, and stroked his lovely shiny black fur.

And he started to purr. Almost imperceptibly at first, and then finally into a loud throaty guttural outboard-motor kind of purr that made him choke on his snack. He didn't stop eating or purring, though, and we even were able to stop holding him in place, and he stayed sitting in my lap, being loved.

I gotta admit, I cried a little. I have waited a really long time to hear Gus purr.

Of course, a few minutes later, he'd had enough and slinked back off to one of his hiding spots.

He is coming out of hiding more and more, though, and doing more exploring. He comes out of his shell more and more. I'm pretty sure most of the time he's just looking at me to see if I happen to maybe have a bag of treats, or a can of food...

Oh, also, he's started lifting his tail and holding his head up* when I call him or say his name. Sometimes he even will rub his body against the wall or sofa or table or whatever. He is ALMOST acting like a real cat!

I swear I didn't replace his eyes with lasers.


*In case you've never witnessed a feral or fearful cat, they hold their tails down, keep their bodies and their heads low. They stay as close to the ground as possible, to avoid being seen. So holding up his tail and swishing himself against furniture is really a HUGE leap in his confidence level.