I think I'm developing a communication skill with the ferals

[wnylib]

47. Did the ginger and white cat end up with

a litter after that howling? I've read that howling is common with cats during mating.

My cat before Ember was a ginger and white male. He was the most affectionate cat that I've ever known. He never met an animal or person that he didn't like and greeted everyone by rubbing up against them. I've heard that gingers are supposed to be very affectionate and doubted that color would affect behavior, but that cat was love incarnate.

Ember was growling as a 2 month old kitten. Not much of a growl at that age, but she gave it all she had, along with hissing and spitting. I got her from a coworker who said that she was the runt of the litter. The coworker mistreated Ember when she was not neglecting her. The day that I went to pick up Ember, she told me that Ember had been attacked by her older brother from an earlier litter. The family dog rescued Ember from that attack and protected her after that.

While I was there, the coworker put Ember on the couch, flipped her onto her back, and very roughly jiggled Ember around with her hand on Ember's belly while the poor kitten tried to struggle free. As soon as she got loose, Ember scuttled over to the dog and hid under its ears.

So Ember had no human socialization, and some mishandling. She lived in fear of both the older cat and of the people in the house, which included visiting grandchildren who were not taught how to behave with pets. In the beginning, her default greeting with anyone but me was hissing and growling. She allowed me to pick her up, but cringed and ran away if I tried to pet her. Human hands terrified her. Add to that the fact that Egyptian Maus are usually aloof with strangers until they know them and require a lot of socializing as kittens.

Two years later, the coworker asked if she could drop by to see how Ember looked as an adult cat because she had such interesting markings. By that time, Ember was a happy, playful, affectionate cat. But the minute that the coworker walked in the door and Ember picked up her scent and heard her voice, she leaped onto the kitchen counter and growled loudly and very threateningly. When the coworker approached her, Ember added hissing, spitting, an arched back, and a paw raised to hit. She never calmed down until that woman left. I've read that Maus are known to have very good memories and Ember's memories of that woman were obviously not good ones. I regretted letting her come into my place.