All of my life until the age of 43/44, I have had two types of dogs as pets: a Dachshund and a Labrador Retriever; but when I relocated to TN in 1990, I began living with a woman who had a cat and after 6 months started to feel just as comfortable with a cat as I had been with a dog except the cat was more skeptical than a dog about most things.Five years later, we got married and acquired two stray cats who later died of old age and after a few months of mourning, we selected two baby cats for an Animal Rescue Center and decided to purchase a Siamese Cat who came with "papers" but we did not want to spend the extra money for those. The Siamese owner led us to believe the cat was younger than it really was and that it had been properly socialized.
When we went to pick up the cat, we immediately realized that both of those assumptions were incorrect but decided to take the cat anyway. I was living in KY at the time and my wife was living in TN and felt like a needed a pet.
Back at my apartment, we let the Siamese out of the carrier and the cat went "ballistic," running around like a cornered wild animal and jumping up on the walls trying to escape. He later ran under the bed where he remained.
I left a bowl of food and water out in the second bedroom along with a litter box and went to sleep. That night I felt the Siamese walking all over my body and in the morning, all the food was gone and the water container was half empty and the litter box had been used.
This behavior continued for about 9 months until we brought one of our other cats up to my apartment from TN and it was that cat who was able to entice the Siamese out from under the bed where I could interact with it and eventually begin to rub it.
Ten years later, the Siamese is still somewhat anti-social and very skeptical of everything that takes place in the house, but because of our time together in KY, the Siamese has bonded to me and I am the only one who has been able to fully interact with him.
