A New Plan

I have implemented a new strategy in relation to Iago. He is still largely in hiding, though he comes out, usually at night, and lies looking out the window. He dislikes me. My strategy is in two parts.

The first consists of a plan to get him to the veterinary hospital for an examination. I have begun feeding him his soft-food meals in a large carrier that the rescue-group possesses. He has no problem entering it to eat the food. The next stage is to have him enter the carrier while I am present. Eventually, I hope to be in a position to close the door while he is inside. This necessitates, of course, catching him in there when there is a vet appointment in the offing, which means the appointment and a successful collection must occur the same day and, preferably, not long apart in time.

(An advantage of the larger carrier is that it feels less like a trap than a small one. It is easier to put a cat in and to take him out.)

The other part of the strategy is to remove the books from the lowest shelves of the two corner bookcases in the library. This will, unfortunately, remove Iago’s immediate security. It will, however, allow him to see me more often and to have some form of interaction. That I will not attempt to grab him when he still wants to hide there will, hopefully, give him a kind of security. In any case, he needs to be forced into the next stage, at which he will have greater observation of me, and vice versa.

As well, after the second stage is begun, I intend to leave the library door open, when I am present to supervise. I do not believe that Iago is intact; I have not been able to see the relevant part of his body that will tell me one way or the other, but his urine does not have the distinctive odour that unneutered males’ wet-waste has. This does not, of course, mean that there will be no fighting between him and the others, but it should reduce it. And waiting until the books are removed so that he can see who is coming will eliminate him being surprised by the sudden intrusion of, say, Brazil’s nose into his hiding spot.

These plans will take time. The rescue-group has socialised many a shy and frightened cat. Iago is not feral, and is already socialised; he simply has to learn that I am not his enemy. We both have time for that.