Klaude Wesley Armstrong

I am sitting here weepy.  No because I am sad, but because I can't believe I am watching he same cat who I found feral in a trap less than a year ago.

Klaude was a feral stray who had brought 7 tiny kittens up to our porch to eat.  he was so doting and careful we thought he was a she and the mother cat.

After trapping and fixing and rehoming all the kittens and a female we thought was a sibling we finally caught Klaude.

When I saw him his backside was red and smeared with feces, his eyes were goopy, he had fleas, eat mites and worms.

I quickly got him into the vet.  Upon Klaude realizing that we were there to help him he immediately latched on to me.  The vet nicknamed him "Bodhisattva" and my husband named him Klaude.

We found out he had FIV and decided to try keeping him with non FIV cats and just being cautious.  We had his teeth cleaned, neuter done, and inoculated him against FLV and got he other cats their boosters.  We knew Klaude was timid and shy so we decided to give him and our eldest cat their own room.  We created the senior cat Geriatric And Special Needs Unit in our house or the "GASNU" but Klaude had other ideas.

Every day I would let him out t wander around supervised.  Then at night I would put them to bed in their room.  Soon I found Klaude and his sister Ani had decided they didn't WANT to be alone and refused to go back into the GASNU.  We spoke to the vet who said as long as they didn't fight to give it a try.

For months Klaude would shake when we tried to pick him up, he would let us comb him but if we clipped his nails or touched his tail he would hiss and spit and run and hide...

Slowly I got him used to being touched, and picked up.  Soon I found him jumping up o sit on chairs (It ook 5 months) and not running away when we walked into a room and sat down.

He had a check up and they were amazed a how great he looked and the vet saw he still had poopy butt and put him on a diet because he had gained weight so quick!  So it was time to implement play.  But whenever we would bat toys or play with him he would duck or flinch and run away.

So Chris my husband, never being one to give up, started bringing home milk rings, and door stops.  They were the perfect size for batting and made no loud noise.  Soon Klaude was playing with them, then he started playing with wooden pogs, then pen caps, then graduated to catnip stuffed mice.

Now he has his own toy box, and when he isn't sitting next to me purring his fool head off he can be found head stuck in it digging around for his two favorite stuffed toys.

So here is this cat.  Who went from withdrawn, scared and UN-trusting to being my best friend.