Jett

 

I got to meet friendly former feral Jett (not to be confused with timid boy Jet) this week when she was brought in from the back pens in preparation for a dental.

She greeted the presentation of her dinner with purrs and rubs, then greeted a return visit a short time later with more of the above plus a couple of happy meows and hand licks thrown in for good measure. The only downside - for me - during all of this was that the ongoing happy cuddle dance made her nearly impossible to photograph.

I learned from Leslie afterwards that purring was not always what could be expected from an encounter with Jett. At one time, words like "nasty" and "scary" would have been much more accurate descriptors than the current "very nice" written on the sign outside her cage.

Before coming to RAPS, Jett had been hanging around 7-11 where she was being fed and had been partially tamed by two women renting a place nearby. When they had to move away and could no longer look out for her, she was brought to the cat sanctuary.

When she started off in a cage in the tearoom, Jett was particularly nasty. She was then moved to one of the back pens, where she spent a lot of her time hiding.

Leslie worked to earn her trust by offering her bits of tuna through the fence. Jett felt safe enough to approach, but would slap the food out of Leslie's hand so she could eat it off the ground - and firmly on her own side of the fence. After a while, she felt safe enough that she began rubbing herself against the fence when Leslie came with her treat. Other people coming to visit a cat named Gypsy, also living in the back pens, gave Jett even more opportunity to get used to having people be around her without being a possible threat to her.

These days, Jett is deaf and will still hiss or spit if taken by surprise. If she sees you coming, though, she could hardly be friendlier. Leslie wishes the women who used to feed her at the 7-11 could see her now.