Lovely article, Karen.

It's funny how long it can take them to mellow out. Our orange kitty we adopted way back i n 2012, has taken until this year to mellow out enough to allow me to pick her up without biting and struggling.

It really is too bad that people do not wish to take the time to allow their new pets to settle in.

Our orange cat has come from a very traumatic situation, so was prone to be very shy and scared. Then at our house she met up with our dog, and that scared her further. She ran to the basement and refused to come out for a month. Eventually we got her out and she then remained in my husbands' office for about a year and became bonded to him.

After that she made tiny advances until now, when she seems to be almost 100 percent normal. That's 9 years!