Day 10 of the 12 Adoptable Pets of the Holiday Season - Phantom from the Annex Cat Rescue

Phantom was a lifelong colony cat who has now settled comfortably into indoor life, and is looking for a quiet and understanding retirement home with a loving boyfriend. She spent her first 10 years living in an outdoor colony and was already a senior when she and her 5 senior colony mates were taken in by ACR. An elderly woman had lovingly cared for the 6 cats for a decade, but when she passed away no other resident of her building was willing to pick up the torch, and the apartment landlord only allowed external feeders access to the property for 2 more weeks. It was December, so the entire colony came into ACR's care on an emergency basis.

Phantom was nervous when she arrived, as expected for a cat that had never been indoors. Once she found her way under the couch in her foster home, she settled in there for the long haul. Over the following year though, she slowly blossomed, and while she still darts away if her foster parents walk toward her (a common former-feral behaviour that will probably never change), if they approach her quietly and calmly when she's lying down, she rolls over for belly rubs and soaks up the love. When they sit on the floor and offer treats, she will slowly approach. Phantom has incredibly thick fur that comes out in clumps and mats into little spikes all over her body, and a few times a year she patiently lets her foster mom comb all the extra fur off her body, which seems like enough to make a whole new cat with. Her adopter will need to continue frequent full-body brushings, or she will become hopelessly matted (she needed to be shaved down when she arrived).

Phantom's big personality has shone through as she's made herself at home inside. When she finds toys, she loudly wails at them, telling the whole house what she's doing. She's a very confident cat (at least around other cats!), and as a result, once she gets comfortable in her home, she will chase and bully nervous and skittish cats, both male and female - so she shouldn't be adopted into a home with shy and unconfident cats, for their sake!

Phantom DOES need another cat though - a boyfriend! Her forever home needs to have a friendly, outgoing and confident male cat that will let her follow him around and cuddle up with him. Phantom is absolutely infatuated with one of the friendly and outgoing resident cats in her foster home - if he's sitting somewhere it's not long before she is trying to get her body as close to him as possible. It's unfortunately a pretty one-sided love affair, and he tolerates her attention but doesn't love her back...so Phantom's dream home would have a boyfriend cat that likes other cats and will return her affections.

As a cat that lived the first decade of her life outside without medical care or vaccines, Phantom has chronic herpesvirus (a cold-like respiratory illness that almost all cats are exposed to at some point in their lives, but that the FVRCP vaccine protects against, and so most cats fight off relatively quickly and easily). She will have chronic congestion, eye discharge, and coughing fits for the rest of her life, which can sound alarming but don't really bother her. Taking l-lysine powder in her wet food twice a day helps to minimize her symptoms, but she may occasionally need a course of eye medication or antiviral pills again if her symptoms get severe. She has had most of her teeth removed due to dental disease, and as a senior, Phantom should eat a high-quality senior or early renal diet, to slow the eventual progression of kidney disease.

Phantom needs a quiet family that understands the body language necessary to help a formerly feral cat feel at ease - she needs to be approached with quiet and slow movements, and handled with gentle techniques - in return, you will see her beautiful personality emerge, as she becomes a confident, happy, cuddly and playful girl. She sleeps on her foster parents' bed every night, snuggling with her boyfriend. If you want to give a cat that had a long and difficult outdoor life a gentle retirement home, and you have a cuddly and confident boy cat that would love a devoted girlfriend, Phantom is the perfect girl for you.

Phantom must be adopted as a buddy to a confident, friendly, male cat.

Find out more about Phantom on the Annex Cat REscue website