Tigger Two

Tigger  (KH)

Tigger arrived with us early this year, and was placed in the SingleWide trailer; his cage bore a warning that this was a reactive boy, and that volunteers and staff needed to be careful around him!

Exploring the SW   (BC)

When orientating visitors, I will often talk about the four main categories of cats who live here – the ferals, the semi-ferals (on a sliding scale), the health-issue cats, and those who have been surrendered. The latter sometimes come to us because of the death of an owner, or when a family relocates somewhere they can’t take a cat. But the most common reasons for surrender are “inappropriate urination” and aggression. Both issues may just be about a quirk in the cat’s personality, or may be a situational thing – something that stresses the cat enough that it has to express itself in pee or in biting.

Considering a lap-jump  (BC)

Tigger had lived with his family since he was a kitten, but due to changes in the home, he became increasingly anxious, which then manifested as aggression.  Sometimes that behaviour can be mitigated by pheromones or by medication, sometimes the stressor can be removed from the equation – sometimes none of that works, and the cat comes to us.

Hideaway time on cage-tops  (KH)

He’s only the second Tigger we’ve had (four Bobbys, four Whiskers, four Jinxes...); the other Tigger was also an orange boy who I met in my early days at the Sanctuary; a Front Courtyard boy who generally disliked other cats but had his favourite humans, from whom he demanded cuddles. Claire blogged him back in 2012. Our new Tigger shares the dislike of other cats, and is reserving judgement on the humans. Once released from his SW cage, he largely took himself out of the way to the shelves and cage-tops. He would come down and interact with a few people, showing himself to be sweet but changeable, often lashing out without much warning. He seems to dislike men, and older people.

Did someone say "Treats"?   (KH)

As he became more confident in his new home, we began to see more Tigger-attack issues. With staff and volunteers, that’s part of Sanctuary life, but it’s not good when we have visitors, and when Tigger started getting aggressive during visiting hours, something needed to be done, and we relocated him.

Finds a hideaway on the DW Deck  (BC)

When a new cat comes in, its placement may just be about where the first available cage is, or it may have another rationale. In Tigger’s case, the fact that he’d been an indoor cat may have been behind the decision to put him in the SingleWide. We’ve had situations where there have been dominance / bullying issues among Front Courtyard boys, and relocating a cat to the Back Courtyard changes the conditions; in the Back Courtyard there is more room to get away from each other when needed. Tigger was moved to the DoubleWide for a quick relocation stay in a cage, and once it was opened, he had a much bigger space with which to work – he could stay indoors if he wanted, or he could explore the full range of the gardens.

Exploring from the TeaRoom   (BC)

Currently he’s staying close to known turf; he’s become a regular visitor to the TeaRoom, and will sometimes come outside if there are treat-type reasons to do so, but we don’t yet see him out and about with any consistency.  Last weekend we put a collar on him to warn visitors to treat him with caution; the most usual attack follows having been nice when accepting goodies, and then launching himself, teeth and claws, at a passing leg. Personality-wise, he reminds me most of Gizmo, who can be a sweet boy, responding to pets, and then suddenly lash out – generally when another cat has wandered into his personal space bubble.

Mooching on the deck - 
Tigger loves Churus!  (AC)

Sadly, there’s no way we can give him the stress-free, other-cat-free, quiet un-anxious life he would probably like – but he’s like a coiled spring, and needs to release the tension from time to time. At least in the Back Courtyard he has the space to go and be alone when he needs to do so.

Blog by Brigid Coult
Photos by Andy Chiu, Brigid Coult & Kim Howe