Philip and Aurora: Ready for face time

At time of writing, Philip and Aurora are back at Gifford, ready for visitors!

I have just a few more photos and videos to share.

At the last vet visit before they went back to Gifford, the cone stayed on and the tail bandage was removed, and we were to soak it twice a day in an antiseptic solution to stave off infection.

It's worth noting that even though he really didn't want these tail soaks to happen, he is a flight kind of cat instead of a fight kind of cat. Once he knew he was cornered, we didn't need to burrito him or even restrain him, just putting a hand on his back was enough signal, and he would just give up and let us do what we needed to do. We tried to make up for it with head scratches, and that did seem to help. He would purr and we'd give him treats immediately after, and he'd eat them right away. And he'd accept more head scratches after the tail soaking, so he forgave fairly easily (lucky for us!). It was easiest with two people, one for head scratches and one for tail soaking, but we both did it solo when needed without too much trouble. He's such a good cat!

Philip also supervised my morning workout on a couple of occasions. Too boring to post video, but it was endearing.

post-workout stretch

I honestly never thought we'd get this far with Aurora. (She's only this comfortable and friendly when Philip is right there with her, but it's still amazing progress! I really think that if she were to be adopted with Philip or another cat with his personality type, she could eventually be a lap cat.)

This became a typical breakfast experience.
 

For a while it was only breakfast, but sometimes she felt friendly at dinner too.

At either time, Philip will happily accept head scratches (as long as he's done eating). Aurora will watch, or cautiously investigate, or in this case, want to play but not be quite sure how to ask for that.

 

And when she does play, it's a very different experience than the first time she came out from under the bed! She's a lot more relaxed.



Last video - her progress just amazes me.


I can take a little credit, but Philip and his steady personality is really what made all the difference. He's been a fantastic role model.

Even her hiding became more brave when he was around!
Not her usual bed, not a very protected spot, and yet there she is.

Considering exploring downstairs, settling for observation instead.

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Philip and Aurora were fostered through the Gifford Cat Shelter in Brighton. Please contact Gifford if you'd like to meet their cats!

Philip and Aurora: World-expanding bravery

Normally when we foster, we start a cat out in our guest room, then as they get comfortable they start roaming the house. After a couple weeks when they're spending most of their time with us in the living room, we move the litter box and the food dishes downstairs to their usual spots. That hasn't happened with these two because they simply haven't left that room for any significant amount of time. For Philip, it's been three months. For Aurora, it's been five and a half.

There have been some exceptions, of course, in the middle of the night, but never when we were home.

Philip is being the trail blazer, and one night appeared downstairs next to my feet when I was scooping canned food into dishes to bring up to them. Reward: immediate presentation of the dish. Aurora's was carried up to the room.

He was visibly nervous, and when Husband got too close with the camera he ran back up to safety.

But in the following week, he started coming down more often and staying longer. (Not needing the cone anymore probably helped.)

And once he started to be more comfortable being downstairs when at least one of us is home, Aurora started following his lead.

Being on the stairs at all is very brave for her!
And lying down? While she can see me? AMAZING.

I've also seen her tail disappear up the stairs, so she's definitely curious to see what Philip is doing, and even started eating canned food in the kitchen as long as I'm not too close.

On one specific Friday night, Philip and I watched Into the Spiderverse (livin' la vida loca over here).

And Aurora came down to tour the living room.

I didn't think she would stay, but since Philip was there, she felt empowered to hang out for a while. The more comfortable he is with a person or room (or both), the more willing she is to give it a try.

Of course, she's mostly trying it out the most at night when we're asleep, but in the last few days the camera has caught her exploring, playing with toys, and even lounging. She's actually getting to be OK in this room that has been outside her comfort zone for months.

I'm so proud of both of them.

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Philip and Aurora are fostered in Cambridge, MA through the Gifford Cat Shelter in Brighton. Please contact them if you are interested in either of them!

Philip and Aurora: extra adorable

This is so cute it short circuits my brain a little.



And I'm going to throw this photo in there too.

He fell asleep purring.

Philip and Aurora: hitting their groove

I talk a lot about Aurora, but I don't want to forget about Philip or gloss over what a good cat he is. He's just a fantastic companion, a solid buddy. Other than the biweekly vet visits for his tail (only until his tail heals!), he's very low maintenance. He might be just a couple years old, but he acts middle-aged. He's an armchair-by-the-fireplace kind of guy. He plays, but he's not aggressive. The only time I feel his claws is when he squeezes my hand because I've stopped petting him.

Good news! His tail isn't ready to be un-bandaged, but he's been very good about leaving the bandage alone, so we don't need the cone anymore. He is so much happier now.

I had a head cold and couldn't sleep, so I went to hang out with the cats.
This is exactly the kind of comfort and companionship I was hoping for.

His eyes are still weepy and I can still hear him breathe in a quiet room, but it's not getting worse. The vet said that those can't really be addressed until his tail is healed because the medications needed for his eyes and nose might interfere with the tail healing. So we're in the habit of wiping the gross out of his eyes with a tissue (he genuinely loves that) and applying ointment twice a day. As long as it's in the context of petting his face, he doesn't even seem to notice we're doing it.

Philip has also been a truly amazing role model for Aurora. He's not a very needy cat and has simple desires, namely food and head scratches.

His personality is so mild, and he's so chilled out, that he's been exactly the kind of companion she needed. I don't know if they'll get adopted together, but I am confident that they are a good personality type for each other.

We can still only pet her when she's hungry (and when Philip is there), but her comfort level is visibly better every week.

We had about a 20-minute session where I was allowed to touch Aurora's feet. She bapped my hand when I tried to touch her shoulder, but this still made me happy.

For months I doubted I'd ever get to this point with her. Holy crap, you guys!

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Philip and Aurora are fostered in Cambridge, MA through the Gifford Cat Shelter in Brighton. Please contact them if you are interested in either of them!

Philip and Aurora: More contact!

Aurora will hang out in the evenings, but at the moment the trend is that we can only pet her if she's hungry.

Evening:



Morning (pardon the darkness, it was early):



That moment where she rubs the side of her face on my hand, right before she realizes what she's doing? That's what I've been waiting for for four months!

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Philip and Aurora are fostered in Cambridge, MA through the Gifford Cat Shelter in Brighton. Please contact them if you are interested in either of them!

Philip and Aurora: Contact!

Aurora is much more brave when she's hungry. So close to real pettings!





Two days later, Husband had a twice-unprecedented experience. For one, Aurora is usually much more shy when he's around, but on that morning her hunger took priority.

And then he unlocked the real achievement. She's still not really into it, but even when she realized he had pet her, she didn't go into hiding!

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Philip and Aurora are fostered in Cambridge, MA through the Gifford Cat Shelter in Brighton. Please contact them if you are interested in either of them!

Philip and Aurora: Food and jealousy

On a typical evening, I'll bring up some canned food. Lately, Aurora has been expressing interest in being a part of this ritual, so she's finally getting her own dish.

After a nosh, Philip gets all the attention and Aurora either supervises or sulks, depending on how you look at it. She won't come close enough to get her own scritches, though.

If I stop with the scritches, Philip is one of those cats that will reach out his paws (with a little more claw than I would like, but it's still adorable) and encourage me to continue. Aurora supervises from a semi-protected hiding spot.

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Philip and Aurora are fostered in Cambridge, MA through the Gifford Cat Shelter in Brighton. Please contact them if you are interested in either of them!

Philip and Aurora: the princess holds my hand

In the evenings, I put down some canned food and spend some time with the Storybook Duo. I can often coax Aurora out of hiding, but only close to me if Philip isn't paying attention. Luckily, once I put down some canned food that is the center of his world for several minutes.

Of course, once he's done, he'll come shove his head in my hand regardless of how close it is to her face and how cautious she's feeling, and if he finds a treat I've put down for her he'll hoover it right up.



It was a couple weeks before anything like this happened again, but she decided we could hold hands.

By "hold hands" I mean she decided my fingers might be a good toy to put her claws in.

You know, I'll take it.

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Philip and Aurora are fostered in Cambridge, MA through the Gifford Cat Shelter in Brighton. Please contact them if you are interested in either of them!

Aurora: staring from a distance

In the mornings and evenings, Aurora has started watching me from a middle distance.

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Aurora is fostered in Cambridge, MA through the Gifford Cat Shelter in Brighton. Please contact them if you are interested in her!

Philip and Aurora: very different attitudes

We had a couple of big mornings!

Aurora had energy to spare. Philip was dismayed that I wasn't either giving him affection or filling the food dish.



Head scratches commence. This makes one of them happy.

And then this happened. She was affectionate to him!





On another day...
I had a catnip plant for a long time and neither of them had any response to it, but as soon as it died, suddenly Aurora was all about it. Philip just wanted breakfast.






That night, though, she was more relaxed. Philip was lying on her favorite toy and she tried to play with it for a little bit, but then gave up and settled down to chill with us. She even closed her eyes for a brief moment, that's progress!

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Philip and Aurora are fostered in Cambridge, MA through the Gifford Cat Shelter in Brighton. Please contact them if you are interested in either of them!