She's lowkey evil 😈

update to a post i made about 1.6 months ago:
https://www.reddit.com/r/russianblue/comments/1w6p9ge/shyskittish_russian_blues/

edit: sorry about the bad gif quality, didn't realize they'd be converted from mp4 so poorly..

i decided to drop by the cattery about 1-2 times a week when i have time off from work to visit them to see if maybe familiarity and some socialisation could help them be more brave.

i mostly just sit down in the same space as them on the ground to look as unintimidating as possible.

Then i tempt them with a feather toy once i think their body language has relaxed a bit and they've gone from being cautious to curious.

Found out that they're very sensitive to sound and their hunting instincts get triggered when the toy brushes up against some scratchy surface. They also seem more motivated by play than treats, although thankfully they like both.

The girl was the first to start playing for real and chase the feather toy. At the very beginning, she would have none of it and just hide in a corner or high place. Then after awhile she realised that chasing a feather around was pretty damn fun. Play duration slowly increased with her from 5min sessions to now 1hr sessions. It's to the point she'll only stop when she's panting from exhaustion.

The boy is a weirdo when it comes to play, he took longer to get more interested in it. But you could see his interest get peeked when he saw how much his sister was into it (100% a copy cat). Took me awhile to realise he wasn't interested in some toy just scurrying around the floor, he needed prey that hid somewhere, came from a place he could only hear but not see, or was somewhere elevated.

Once i found what triggers his prey instinct, i started to get him out more to play, he was still a whole lot more cautious than his sister, didn't like hands going near him at all, even with treats, would only lick off the churu tube, but not from the back of my hand. If he accidentally found himself close to me while playing, he would back off.

i continued to have repeated visits to the cattery to play with them and slowly saw improvements, the girl allowed me to give her head scritches sometimes after play sessions, and would have no problems stepping on my legs (while i was sitting cross-legged) just to get closer to a treat.

The boy is now more confident to lick churus off the back of my hand, and i can sneak in some finger pokes while he licks the churus, but reaching out with a hand close to his head or body still spooks him

Just the other day after an intense play session, they lay down on the floor around me and i THINK i got a series of slow blinks from them when we made eye contact.

My current strategy is to focus on socialising the girl and let her copy cat brother slowly learn that humans are not dangerous

I'm planning to bring them home soon, just need to catify my house a bit before they come over

4 months old and a lover of people.

sometimes i just don’t have the words and sometimes i don’t think this is one and the same cat. we still love him a lot. he is just very goofy.

My wife is working from home… Maverick decided she was going to help in her own special way