"Not all cats like all people." An adoption counselor at an animal shelter shared that observation with me a couple years ago. Over time, as the rescue group I helped found has gone on to save over 250 cats, that remark has taken on different shades of meaning for me.
When we initially founded Shelter Me Inc in 2007, I thought that most cats were likely to be attracted to some people more than others for reasons I would never understand. As far as I can tell, that remains true. (Chemistry- or call it the law of attraction- is inexplicable for humans and animals alike) However, in the intervening years--based on my exposure to the personalities of so many different animals-I have also come to believe that cats are not altogether aloof and unpredictable. On the contrary, my impression is that some cats are probably genetically pre-disposed to be unusually shy. Perhaps unexpectedly, the colors of cats also appear to suggest personality traits. For example, I have met dozens of orange cats and aside from the well-established fact that most are male, all of the orange cats I have met tend to be 'doglike' in a friendly, uninhibited kind of way.
In the past more than one cat rescuer has told me that calico cats tend to be unusuallly difficult and compensate by 'picking' their owners. I was skeptical about that one until I had a calico cat in foster care who bit seven people including me, my niece, four people at three foster homes plus the manager of the first barn that I placed her in. Finally, I gave the cat to a barn owner who rears golden retrievers; the day calico arrived the barn owner petted the cat on her head and nothing happened. Nobody had ever before tried to pet this cat and not regretted it. The barn owner did not believe me when I told her how difficult this cat had been.
Most of the 100 cats that Shelter Me Inc has placed in barns were labeled 'unadoptable' for one reason or another. In many cases, they were strays from the streets of Boston, Lawrence, Roslindale and other cities and towns. They were terrified of people or responded badly to being caged in a shelter, which prevented the staff from showing them, which made them unadoptable. There were several cats who repeatedly fought with other cats and were surrendered for that reason. There was also one very memorable orange cat who bit her owner and was delivered to an animal control office that was unable to find a home for her. We placed that cat in a spectacular barn in West Newbury where she rules the roost.
In the overwhelming majority of cases, all of our cats adjusted very well to barn life. Ten of them made it into their owners' homes and continue to reside indoors today. Perhaps not surprisingly, a number cats live on their own terms. They follow their owners on the dailly rounds when the horses are being turned out to pasture in the morning and brought back to the barn in the evening. But these cats refuse to be touched. There are other barn cats who come into the owners' homes in the evening to watch TV with the family and then these animals return to their barns to sleep. We have also heard of barn cats who take months to show themselves in the barn.
Cats are idiosyncratic as can be. From our standpoint, that makes a strong case for fostering. It is a nice way to get to know an animal and give an animal the time to know you before you decide if you family can provide the most appropriate home for it.
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