Well, for starters, he’s no longer confined to a cage; he’s been given the run of the spare bedroom.
Granted, he mostly uses this to hide under the sofa or chair, as well as his cage, rather than sit at the window.
He’s still extremely scared of me, and will hiss at attempts to get too close to him, pick him up and so forth; however, he isn’t displaying any behaviour more aggressive than that. I can pick him up, put him on my lap, and pat and brush him with no more than a performance while I’m picking him up. Although he does like to hide his head in my armpit. I assume it’s safe there.
I also took him to our vet (the Kilbernie Animal centre) this weekend (with Kathryn’s assistance, since I’m carless for the moment, and I didn’t think running him down there strapped to the bike would be a good idea for anyone involved). I was a bit concerned with how he’d react, given his alleged performance at the SPCA.
I needn’t have worried. Again, he was terrified by being pulled out of his carrier cage, but was well-behaved, with no attempts to attack either the vet or I. His behaviour was all the more remarkable given that the vet noticed something we’d missed before, in the form of a small, pus-filled abcess on the inside of his lower lip. She squeezed the pus out without so much as a protest. The good behaviour extended to staying put for an antibiotic injection.
He’s also missing his lower left canine, presmably from a fight, a kick in the face, or just going rottensuch is the life of a feral cat. The rest of his teeth are in such good nick that the vet reckons he’s probably 3, although he could be as old as 7.
He also has a slight wheeze in his lungs; nothing serious sounding, and most likely scarring from an older untreated illness, with a possible allergic reaction to his change in circumstances. Nothing, we are assured, to worry about.
Other than that, she reckons he’s in fine nick for a long-term wild cat, and was pleased with his general demeanour and condition.
Oh, and I heartily recommend our vet practice. Although they felt taking Grendel to them was the best option for a first visit, they will also do house calls, and are generally very good and patient with all our animals.