You’re interested in meeting my girl, Little Miss Daisy? Excellent! She’ll be happy to know people are checking out her pictures. She thinks she’s very important, you know. She’s even got a video on YouTube now! How cool is that? Scroll down to the bottom to see it here, as well.
Adoption
Daisy was born in a litter of six kittens to a barn cat that I dubbed “Mama” at the end of October 2017. She and her littermates had already been born and moving around and nearly feral by the time I started work in that barn. They were used to seeing people, but they were leery and so cute with their little hisses.
I had just lost a beloved pet, and it had been some time, so I decided to adopt one of the kittens from the barn and attempt to turn her into a pet. So at around 4 months old, I took the plunge.
At first, I was going for the only orange kitten of the bunch. But Little Miss Daisy was the brave one who approached me cautiously and sniffed my fingers.
Then I basically kidnapped her from her litter and separated her inside. I live and work with horses, so we have studio apartments atop the barns.
She drove me CRAZY for two weeks as she really did not like being confined. She did bond with me easily and loved me, but she was totally against being confined inside. Probably I adopted her a little late and she knew she was close to her birthplace, I don’t know. For whatever reason, she refused it. She was not settling down and I finally had to compromise.
I allowed her to go back outside with me, but forced the confinement at night and whenever I wasn’t outside. This didn’t go over really well, either. Sometimes cats are seriously set in their ways, even at only a few months old. She became the little escape artist, in fact.
I decided having a happy cat was more important to me than a perfectly safe cat and so she got reintroduced to her siblings when she was following me around the barn during work. She played and had a blast, and would follow me back to the apartment for food and attention.
After a week of this, her brother, the orange kitten that I was originally going for, decided to follow us. I, of course, fed him. He decided he wanted to be a half-pet too and adopted ME and refused to go back. I named him “Buddy“.
I suddenly had two cats when I only wanted to adopt one. But I couldn’t say no!
Another week and all six kittens were following me around like puppies. I had to put my foot down, though. I couldn’t adopt them all with a small studio and traveling for work. One is great. Two is doable. Three is crazy-talk!
Then Mama decided she loved me too! But this story is about Daisy.
About Miss Daisy
Daisy is a unique looking and beautiful cat. She is what is referred to as a Torbie. She’s a tortoiseshell (tri-colored) cat with tabby stripes. She looks like a tabby cat with splashes of orange in random spots.
As an adult, she weighs a grand total of 8 pounds now and she’s almost 3 years old as of this post (August 07, 2020).
She’s fixed, fully vaccinated, and microchipped. She’s dewormed regularly and on Revolution for fleas and other parasites like the rest of my colony. Negative for FIV/FeLV and heartworms.
She got an upper respiratory infection from another cat at one point, after being vaccinated, and the sneeze never went away. After numerous trips to the vet, we’re STILL trying to figure it out.
That said, my vet isn’t an expert on barn cats or feral cats or anything, so I’m not sure that I won’t need to take her somewhere else. She’s not sick, she just sneezes often without any sign of allergies as only antibiotics reduce the sneezing.
Likes
She loves me to pieces and will follow me around from one barn to another, like a well-trained dog almost. See the video I created last year!
Daisy loves wet food, usually shreds, no pate, please. She loves her chicken flavors and dislikes fish. But usually, she will eat dry food before wet food. Crazy girl.
She loves being picked up and cuddled by me. She will sit in my arms for an hour getting head scratches, her little paws on my shoulder. She’ll even refuse to be put down by clinging to my shoulder with her claws (OUCH!) when I try. Insisting on rubbing her nose and cheek across my face, I get cat hair all over me. She’s definitely a Mama’s girl!
Little Miss Daisy, despite being the most cuddly cat of mine, is also the more independent one. She will follow me around for ages if I’m doing something interesting. But once I’m working or standing somewhere chitchatting, she quickly loses interest and goes about her exploring or whatever she does in the day.
Daisy and her brother, Buddy, love to play and mock-fight each other.
Dislikes
Daisy absolutely hates being confined, even after all this time. I bring her inside the apartment every night. Every night it’s a game with her. She sees me around bedtime, she turns around and walks away as fast as she can without running. I have to catch her and carry her inside.
Where she will whine like a child or a dog at the door for an hour (or more) before settling down.
Initially, I wanted her to be indoors with a cat tree and window ledges and such. This was a battle for me because I want her safe. But I didn’t want her miserable and she was so miserable at first being confined indoors.
She was born in the barn and lived for months outside before I adopted her. I decided I’d rather have a happy cat instead of a miserable depressed one and compromised on letting her be a barn cat pet.
Daisy isn’t very tolerant of other cats getting in her space. She’ll slap a kitten on the head for no reason but to be a little crabby diva. Daisy’s not horrible though and won’t attack other cats. She just wants them to leave her be and stay out of her space.
But she feels threatened by the ex-feral cat Tweety, who has taken to chasing other cats out of the area simply because they run away.
That said, when she’s following me around, she does pick on a barn cat we call “Granny.” She will walk right up to her and swipe at her with a paw, no aggression, just calm as you please. Granny will scream and run up the stairs as if Daisy attacked her. It’s hilarious.
Meet Daisy
Be sure to check out her video above where she follows me and obeys the traffic laws of the barns! It’s so cute!!
If you’re interested in helping out homeless cats in your community, please see my saving cats post.
Lovies!
Daisy looks absolutely adorable! She sounds like a real character – a lot of time they can be very independent-minded. I remember having a cat when I was young who sounds really similar. She was also not very social when it came to other cats, but was fine with my family. Do you have any tips for what to do in that situation? Thanks a lot
Hi! Thanks for visiting!
Daisy is definitely my independent but cuddly baby! She’s a hoot most of the time. She loves being with me and tolerates other cats, sort of well.
The only way to get a cat to handle any socialization, with people or other cats, is just to get them used to it. Under the supervision of course. But the more often they’re around other people, especially when young, the better socialized they are. This is true of other cats and dogs as well.
That said, cats domesticated themselves because they wanted to be. If a cat just simply hates people no matter how much socialization you give them, they’ll simply hate people. They learn to ‘tolerate’ them better though with more socialization.
Thanks for the question!
What a beautiful girl and sweet story of how you two have gotten to know each other. I often think that cats train people (instead of the other way around), and it sounds like Daisy did her fair share of this. It is great that you two have found each other and it sounds like a beautiful relationship. 🙂
Aw, thanks so much for your kind words! She definitely trained me quite well. I STILL have to go gather her every single night and she speed-walks away from me every time. She’s a nut. She hates being indoors.
Daisy must be a really cool cat. I think you are a magnet. Not just any kind of magnet but a cat magnet that drew all those cats to you even their mother. Lol. Anyway, it’s great to see you have nice looking companion that will follow you everywhere. I might just get a cat myself but the feral cats around here are old grown and I’d really love a kitten instead. Great one anyway and send my greetings to beautiful daisy.
Kittens born to feral cats do make excellent pets! Fully grown feral cats rarely become tame, and if they do, it usually requires a lot of time and effort. Like years. But if any of the ferals near you have a litter of kittens, they socialize very easily and become just like any other kitten you could adopt. Thanks for commenting!
I’m glad I read such a great article from you again. Daisy is so cute, really. I am impressed with the video and the way she reacts when you talk to her and give her instructions. It really behaves like a well-trained dog. You have made a perfect job with this adorable cat.
Thank you for saving cats post. You give very helpful advice.
Thanks so much for watching!!
Awww! I love your post about Daisy! So interesting. However, I’m curious to ask why did you decide to adopt Daisy? Is the process any different when you adopt a cat? I’m currently looking to get a cat and everyone keeps telling me to go a shelter for a pet because they truly need a home. Any suggestions?
Thanks so much for visiting!
I adopted Daisy because she was available and needed a loving home, otherwise she was going to be growing up wild in the barns.
Unless you come across a cat or kitten that needs help, I do heartily recommend you seek a pet cat at shelters. They vet them fully medically, they receive all their vaccinations, they make sure they’re fixed, and they often have them microchipped in case they get lost. All of that is included in the adoption fee, which is actually much, MUCH lower than that would cost you to rescue a kitten off the streets or getting a free kitten from the neighbor.
If I would have done it over again, I probably would have still adopted Daisy. If Daisy and her siblings hadn’t been born in the barn where I worked, I might not have gone out to seek a cat to adopt at that time. It just happened. I love cats, but traveling for work, I felt it was better to not have a pet. Daisy truly was a blessing.
Thanks again!
You know cats make amazing pets for plenty of reasons, but sometimes it can be hard to put into words exactly why they’re so great and special. Daisy looks pretty, by the way, with lots of amazing experience to share, although I see the fact she doesn’t share space and I totally understand because I have a similar situation with me here with my mum’s cat. I’m looking forward to adopting my own very cat, making your “saving a cat” my next read. Thanks a lot.
Thanks so much! Daisy actually doesn’t mind sharing space, she loves being held in my arms and rubbing against me. She simply hates being confined indoors. She’s also independent and sometimes just wants to be near me, not cuddling. Thanks a ton!
Thanks for sharing this story about Daisy. She looks like a nice cat. I’m glad that you eventually let Daisy go back to her family. It seems like you are going through a lot with your grief from having lost another animal companion and maybe you didn’t realize how much Daisy would miss her family. For me it was a sad part of the story when she got taken from her family and a happy part of the story when she got to go back to her family.
Hi! Thanks for your comment! Daisy actually didn’t miss her family. She was at the age, Mama had already pushed them away and was pregnant again, and she did bond to me really fast. She didn’t like being indoors. In fact, when she was first reintroduced to her siblings, she hissed and tried to slap them. That’s only after a week of being apart. It’s natural for cats to spread out after birth. Sometimes they bond closely together, sometimes they don’t. She didn’t. I adopted her brother too, and she is not close to him at all. She tolerates other cats. She loves me. ^_^
Animals don’t see things the way people do regarding family. They might stay close or might move apart, and sometimes it’s uncertain they even realize when a family member is missing. Except if they had bonded closely. I wasn’t taking her from her family, I was saving her from life as a barn cat as being outside is dangerous. Instead, I simply improved her life as a barn cat. But hey, something is better than nothing!
Thanks again!
Hi Rochelle,
I very much enjoyed reading your story about Miss Daisy and watching your video of her following you. I don’t know that she had enough time to become feral, because my family has had a couple of very independent cats who appreciated our food and safety support, and occasionally our company. I think you have a very good relationship with Daisy. Not clingy or cloying but respectful of each other.
Our favorite cat loved to explore and bring home his trophies for us to admire. Although we live in a community that requires pets, including cats, to be on a leash when outside, we didn’t have the heart to leash him and let him out to enjoy his roaming. So, I truly understand your relationship with Miss Daisy. I especially enjoyed watching her keep her distance while “walking with you” through the barn and horse areas. I consider her “catching up with you” as giving you the same freedom she expects in return rather than “following you,” but then “joins you” at a distance to continue sharing your rounds. Then, she expresses her affection for you by rubbing against your leg and foot.
Until my wife and I married, I was not a “cat man.” I was a lover of dogs. However, my wife had two cats when we married, and I learned to love and enjoy them. Since those two cats, we’ve had another two that we loved, although one birthed a litter before we took that ability away from her. I’ve learned a lot watching our cats and observing their behaviors and responses to us. They are like children who are trying to become independent, but who are still emotionally attached and need us.
After our last cat died, my wife has refused to have another, “because it’s too hard losing them after we’ve grown so attached to them.” So, I commend you for having the courage and heart to take in Miss Daisy, Buddy, and on occasion their mom and siblings.
You’ve given us a beautiful story, and you have a commendable objective of saving cats. I wish you well in your endeavor.
Thanks so much for your kind words!
Daisy, being born outside to a barn cat, was born feral. That simply means she wasn’t socialized to humans. The longer she went without proper human socialization, the less chance she’d ever be a ‘friendly’ barn cat and instead be a feral one. She was almost too old to be tamed, but she did excellently. Loves me, will let others pet on her, cautiously. But she still runs and asks questions later when startled. ^_^
I have fallen in love with Miss Daisy and her funny ways. You describe her so vividly, with all her quirks and contradictory behaviors. I love picturing her playing the bedtime “game” with you, walking away when she sees you coming, but not running, so you can still catch her, but *you* have to do the work to make it happen, because, of course, *she’s* a cat! What a little character she is. And she is beautiful. I didn’t know a “torbie” was a thing! So fascinating, and I love that hybrid word. I also love picturing this independent little lady with her paws on your shoulder, just melting into you and wanting alllll the head-scratches. Isn’t it funny how they can be so sassy and independent, and such sweet little babies, too? I am thinking her brother Buddy is the one who disappeared, the one you were telling me about on Instagram. Has there been any sign of him? I pray he comes back, or gets returned to you.
Hi, Adrienne! Thanks so much for visiting!
As for Buddy, he is not the one who went missing that I mentioned. Luckily, he is okay and comes inside every single night, on his own.
I really do need to get a picture of Daisy in my arms like a baby. It’s so adorable! Super cute! But I have to have someone else take the picture and I never remember when I’m doing it. LOL!
Thanks again for visiting!