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Pearly is a 15 year old (best guess by two vets) domestic shorthair. She started life as a street cat for several years. Like most such cats, she probably had her share of abuse from humans. Then she was taken in by a lady who had seven such street cats in her house, but did little to socialize them. She was an AA lady who died in February of this year after 5 years sobriety. A call went out to AA members asking if there were any willing to adopt one of these cats.
I adopted two, Pearly and Tyler, but both went into hiding as soon as I get them home. Tyler was found dead a month later, cause unknown, and I want on a huge crying jag. As a eunuch, I tend to do a lot of crying nowadays. By this time it was realized that all seven cats were semi-feral. Pearly had NEVER been socialized, and I was instructed to track her down and put her in a cage.
The nice folks at PACT (People And Cats Together) gave me a small cage to put Pearly in, and she spent the next 4 months in that cage in my bedroom. I would feed her, and change the litter, and talk to her. When I was sleeping or away, a blanket covered the cage. When I was in the bedroom, the blanket came off so she could see me walking around. I would take to her all the time.
This may seem cruel, but in actual fact the idea was to condition Pearly that the cage, and the bedroom, were SAFE. And I, a human in her life, was SAFE. And it worked. After 4 months I opened the cage door. For the next couple of weeks she stayed in the cage anyway, but one day she decided that she wanted to be in bed with me, and that was that. She was socialized.
However, I had to move soon, so I kept her confined to my bedroom. After I moved to my new apartment, Pearly decided to stay in the two bedrooms. I have her litter boxes and some toys in the smaller bedroom, and her food and water dishes in dishes in my room. She has scratching pads in both bedrooms, but uses only the one in my bedroom.
I tried putting the food dishes outside my room, but she refused to go to them. So I moved the dishes to the area between my bedroom and the living room. She eats the food and drinks the water, but simply will NOT go into the living room, even when I am there.
Right now, she thinks of my bedroom as "SAFE". She spends most of her time on top of my bed, resting on a heating pad. She seems quite content, shows no signs of boredom, eats and drinks and uses the litter boxes without fuss, and wants me to pet her all the time. I fall asleep petting and stroking her, and sniffing her fur. (Kinky!)
Will she ever decide to leave the bedroom and explore the rest of the apartment? Hard to say. But if she does, it will have to be at her own time. But, at the moment, she seems to be content.
OH, the name "Pearly" comes from her former owner. Pearly is a 5-1/2 pound black cat with a small white patch on her throat, almost like a white pearl. Hence her name. Her kidneys are a bit weak, so she is on Hills Prescription Diet Feline K/D dry food. Otherwise, she seems to be in good health.
and I love her very much. As I type she is laying on top of my monitor peering down at me in her wise, superior gaze 
