Hadley was my first foster through Maine Coon Rescue. He came from a breeder who was unable to care for him. Hadley seemed to have had a traumatic first experience with the world. He didn’t know how to be a cat. For example, he didn’t know how to groom. He tried, but he’d end up soaking portions of himself and then leaving the entire other portions completely dry. We started calling them chaos baths. Also, for Hadley, almost everything was new, and new was scary. He spent the first several weeks in our extra room hidden among my husband’s guitars. We’d see his big, round eyes, and then he’d slowly shrink back into the shadows.
After a few weeks, he started to come out of hiding and then slowly started interacting with us. My husband was the first person he connected with, then our kids, and then me. Our Maine Coon, Maru, was also a huge help to Hadley, and they became fast friends. Hadley learned how to be a cat and a human companion from Maru. He watched Maru and copied whatever Maru did. Hadley’s chaos baths became less and less chaotic. Soon, Maru and Hadley were playing with and bathing each other. They became like brothers. It is sweet to see how much they care about each other, and it’s rewarding to watch Hadley learn from and play with Maru. They can be bumbling and goofy at times, so bring a lot of laughter into the house. Hadley is truly a gentle giant. He’s about 18 pounds and is still growing. He’s tall and long and has a massive head. We refer to him as the house tiger.
I felt very special when Hadley finally connected with me. I remember peeking into the pet carrier at the airport when I first picked Hadley up, seeing a humongous cat head with the most vulnerable eyes. I felt an overwhelming urge to hold him close and make him feel safe, but I knew it would just scare him. If I’m honest, I remember thinking that he’d already stolen my heart.
Hadley and Maru continued to build their brotherly relationship, and Hadley continued to become closer to us. New things were still very scary to him, though. We realized how far Hadley had come and how safe he felt, likely for the first time in his life. We also realized how much we loved Hadley. We could not bring ourselves to put him through another experience of having to get used to new things, of being scared again. We realized we knew Hadley was home the moment he came through our door. So, we made it official at the end of 2021—a very special holiday gift to the family.
Kindly,
Lisa |
