Jeffrey is a golden boy with a white vest, white front paws and white back boots approximately 8 months in age. He is at ease with other cats, in fact went right into my cattery with 10 other fosters, ignored their hisses, gave no indication of anxiety, picked out a spot on one of the cat trees and settled in to observe.

Jeffrey was trapped when just a wee kitten by the Animal Officer of my city. She placed him in a condo in her cattery which also includes an outside play area totally screened. Jeffrey wanted nothing to do with condos, cages or people and made a dash for freedom to the outside play area. Unknown to the care givers there was a small hole at the bottom of the heavy wire screening -- just right for a small kitten. And Jeffrey was gone. Cold weather approached and those of us feeding the remaining cats would sometimes see a flash of gold zooming out the cat doors as we entered the indoor area and we realized that Jeffery was alive and well and was coming in thru his small hole to eat and sleep inside. Sometimes he did not zoom out fast enough and back into the condo he would go. But he never stayed in very long and out he would go. But he came to love the Animal Officer and he would wait out in the bush for her to come to the cattery and call him. He would eat and sit on her lap. She decided even if he were going to be an outside cat he needed to be neutered and she scooped him up one morning and took him to the vet. Well, the vet called to tell her that he was neutered and would not stay caged and to come get him. She picked him up and stopped by my house on her way home. She was sad because she knew he would go back outside. We both had the same thought and Jeffrey at approximately six months of age became a CARA cat.

I normally put all new comers into a condo until everyone seems relaxed but could not do this with Jeffrey because of his distrust of cages (although he does not object to cat carriers) so I was very relieved that Jeffrey did not react to the hissing of the other cats. Nor did he make any attempt to get out and in fact seemed very content. He kept his distance from me and when he had a bout of sickness I wondered how he would react when I had to pick him up to medicate him. He bit me until I said on the third day "Jeffrey please do not bite me" and he turned his head and licked my hand. Wow! He never bit me again. Several weeks later I was sitting and petting several of my fosters and realized among them was a little golden boy. After several weeks of this I carefully put him on my lap to see what would happen and he let me continue petting him. He now demands to get into my lap, even when someone else is there.

Jeffery is small for his age and based on his paw size will be a small male. He is a serious cat and thinks before he acts. He needs to feel secure in his surrounding which means he reacts to loud noises and probably would not be comfortable around young children. He likes to be around other cats and having been outside could be OK with dogs although I cannot say for sure. He LOVES to play with the laser light and "da bird" (see pictures!). It did, however, take him a while to realize that he did not need to grab da bird in his teeth at first try and drag it under the chair for a meal!