Basil is doing ok, he had some big setbacks in the last few days, but luckily yesterday afternoon he started to turn around again. One of the setbacks was caused by me taking him out and putting him in a travelling cage so I could clean the bench properly, after that he wouldn't get near me anymore, not even when Dewey was around :( Poor thing went back to being terrified and growling and hissing loads. That he escaped a few times during good moments didn't help either, he's somewhat used to a house, just not to humans, so I have to be careful when getting him out it seems! If he gets the chance he'll just hop off my lap (and then I can't approach him anymore, had to lure him back in), but at the same time I have to learn him to not run from me inside ánd outside the bench. Managed a few times later yesterday, with the help of food and Dew :) Small steps will hopefully go a long way! Right now he's going nuts with a toy, and when he's really having his crazy moments, he growls loads too! I dunno if it's just from having his crazy time, or if he's growling at something, like the toys, or to himself, the cage perhaps? No clue! But I do know I ain't attempting to touch him then, haha :D
Dewdew doing his adorable thing, so cute how he is to kittens!
This was on one of his first days here, I couldn't even put the blanker in the box completely, because as you can see, he's not exactly relaxed here.
Cutie with shiny paws ♥
Here he saw Dew on my desk, you'll have to imagine the poor meows with the pic, aww! I have some pillows on the side of his cage so I can sit there with him (although right now he still finds that quite scary if I'm on the side instead of the front) and a bedsheet to cover the cage, but he and Dew seem to enjoy to pull it off, lol!
Perhaps Batman would've suited him more than Basil... =D
Being petted is secretly quite nice! I gave him a used basket from my cats, and placed it at the front of the bench, in the hope that he'd relax and snooze there, making it easier for me to pet him. That turned out to be a good idea in the end, but getting that basket in the cage... >.<
Dew joined him in the basket to give him a wash :) First reaction if I touch him: ears flat, but he didn't move back here (he still does that often so I can't even touch him) and he quickly got all relaxed again, never stopped purring either ♥
Here he fully enjoyed my cuddles and Dewdew's washing, I tried to pet his chin but he just rested his little head on my finger, aww!
Yep, that's nice alright! :)
Practice outside of the cage, I'm ready to grab him again but decided to give him a very short time with just Dew and him.
Yep, if Dew decides to wash a kitten, there's no way it can get away from him, he'll just hold it in place, lol!
More practice outside of the cage, this time with some food :) His eating goes SO much better already! He might throw a little hiss at me but nothing impressive, and I can just touch him when he's eating. Also practiced with candy, his first reaction was not to eat it, then he improved to wanting it and harshly slapping it and pulling it towards him, then he started to be more gentle when poking the candy instead, and right now he doesn't always use his paws anymore but just eats them near my fingers. This morning he even ate some from my hand!
Hopefully he'll keep improving like he is now, and that he'll start to trust me more. Right now he still runs from me fairly often, and then I need food/toys/Dewey to help me, but there are more and more moments as well where he just lets me pet him without any help ♥ I also hope he starts to trust me more so I can make his life more comfortable, little things like changing a foodbowl still can give quite a reaction, although it does go better already. But there's of course a lot more to do than changing a simple foodbowl, like cleaning his litterbox (daily problem) or cleaning the basket (not even attempted yet) or the cage (which gave a setback). I'd prefer to clean things completely every day, but that's not a good idea yet, so I'm trying to balance things out.
Seeing a kitten like Basil, and knowing there are loads more like him out there (my local shelter has a bunch of kittens like him atm, but they also have kittens that are just born and already without mum, sick/injured kittens, and a whole bunch of healthy and social kittens too), just breaks my heart. Because of that I do feel the need to use this space to address the problem.
So if you read this and haven't neutered your cat, I hope you'll (re)consider doing so! I'll quote myself from an older fosterkitten post: "If you have a cat and think it would be fun to have a litter of kittens, please consider the huge amount of animals still waiting for a loving home. Neutering your cats is always a good thing (also to prevent certain health and behaviour issues later on) and you could instead have a look at your local shelter for a foster option :) That way you can still have the joy (and the wrecked house, lol) of having kittens! They usually get neutered by the shelter as well, so they won't add to the problem later on either."
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