New member, hello!

[EmmaG]

Hi and welcome!!!

Nija is totally gorgeous!! I am sure he will come around in time.

[Kay]

Welcome to Catpages, Snoof. Ninja is such a stunner. I love truly black cats they have a definite air about them. Hopefully the kittens will teach to be more accepting of people. Good Luck.

[yola]

Hello and welcome. It's lovely to have you here and Ninja too. He sounds like a wonderful, if challenging, member of your household. I hope it works out with the kittens - it's be good for all concerned if it did!!

BTW - I love your little boy's name. It's SO evocative (and cool) .

[dinahsmum]

Hi Snoof and a warm welcome to CatPages - hope you will like it here.
Ninja is beautiful - it sounds as though he is coming round, so good luck on his continued socialisation.

[Snoof]

Thanks everyone

[LMC]

Hi snoof - I'm quite new here myself but have already found this forum really useful (for the cats' Christmas prezzie )

Your Ninja looks and sounds SO like my Snowy (yep, she's black) - she was a semi-feral kitten. Even now she's 11.5, she's never going to be a lap cat. And sometimes it's so frustrating that I just get to the point when she'll trust me and then I have to go and spoil it all by taking her to the vet or worming her, dammit.

But cats are independent creatures - if Snowy wasn't happy, she'd refuse to come into the house at all, or take herself off quickly enough and I'm sure Ninja would be the same - so even though it feels like an uphill struggle, don't be too hard on yourself - the life you are giving him is almost certainly so much better than the one he had before: focus on the moments when he looks comfortable and happy, even if he's not interacting with you! He looks like a beautiful healthy cat, keep us posted as to how he gets on with the kits.

[Snoof]

I will do And thanks for the words of encouragement. It's harder to be sure of myself that I'm doing right by him when he's so obviously still frightened, and rarely expresses any form of appreciation - but then when I think about the time I got to pet him through the banister (me on the stairs, him on the landing, very uncomfortable and I had to pee!), and he nudged my hand with his face five times in a row when I stopped giving forehead scritchings - to get me to give him some more of them. Or about the time he let me close the bedroom door with him and me in it together, and I didn't find out for about an hour (when I heard a kitty yawn and saw two big yellow eyes staring at me from a pile of black clothes - my boyfriend thinks bedroom floors are extra-large laundry hampers ), and the way he stayed where he was for about half an hour before going to the bedroom door to get me to open it for him... And every tiny bit of progress really is a way to show his appreciation.

I even suspect I appreciate them more because I know how hard it is for him to trust me enough to allow those things to happen, whereas a more trusting cat may be more affectionate, but doesn't have to work through fright to do it... It makes me very proud of him

[LMC]

If Ninja is happy to be in the same room as you and will sleep when you're around, then sounds like he'll be fine given time, although he probably won't ever be a cuddlebug. You're right, the little things are so much more meaningful when you know they are getting over a fear of you - I'm sorry to say that I push Jenny away occasionally, because she's ALWAYS affectionate (but I wish she wouldn't sleep on the pillow and sometimes I want to give one of the others a bit of attention!) - but I always make time for Snowy's 'moments'.

Oh, and I reckon they must have some sixth sense, they always pick bad times to decide they *do* want some affection after all - Snowy went through a phase of actually :gasp: jumping on my lap - but only ever in the mornings about five minutes before I had to leave for work. At the moment, she's sleeping on the bed with me. She waits until I'm in bed before jumping up and always peeps over the edge of the duvet to see if I'm awake to scratch her ears before we settle - but if I reach to cuddle her - she's off.

[Snoof]

Cats can be such teases

My old cat, Dishrag (whom I got because he was thrown out of a car as a kitten ) was so incredibly cuddly, sometimes I <i>had</i> to push him away! I miss him though He's with my ex in America, because it wasn't feasible to take him with me when I moved back to Europe.

[Naomi]

Welcome to Catpages!

Ninja is such a great name for a gorgeous cat.