Does this mean you are going to try these techniques in Wildcat Village? It would be great if some of those cats could find forever homes.

Thanks so much, Patty. It's hard to have a wonderfully successful program taken away without understanding how what has been learned will be used to help other shy cats. Hopefully we'll be hearing success stories from all over Cat World!

Patty -
Thank you so much for this information on the reasoning behind the changes to the program. Like many others, I was saddened to hear of the shutting down of Miss Sherry's and was hoping to work there when I volunteer for a week in Nov. However, I also knew that the BF Staff must have a good reason for the changes and would let us know at the appropriate time.
Please keep us informed of how Miss Sherry's techniques are being used in Cat World.
Barbara Koll

Perhaps I've missed something here on the closing of MSFS. I had thought it was about the transition of that care to Cat World, taking what was learned at MSFS and incorporating that into Cat World. So I just thought it was a continuation of the process. Not that the program was being abandoned. I hoping that this is essentially the plan.

I also wouldn't be surprised to learn that in doing that the Finishing School lessons would be further refined. In some ways, it's just plain good science, and also because it's Best Friends, I know it will be done with the best interests of the cats in mind.

I had read discussion about the concerns that feral cats best be suited for TNR might get caught up in the cage-train track. And that seems a legitimate concern. Perhaps if we (in general) knew as much about cat behavior as we do about dog behavior this wouldn't be as big an issue. But we don't, so those who take it upon themselves to rescue cats and make the effort to do right by them just have to deal with these issues the best they know how.

I am hoping that all this leads to better understanding of cats. Because IMO cats get the short straw in terms of recognition in animal work. And that's not to say I fault anyone. It's a symbiotic situation (or lack of symbiosis) between people and cats, and as ailurophile I have to fight the tendency to be misanthropic about it.

I have to realize that society is a dog-oriented because dogs are easier for us to interact with. They can read our expressions, we can read theirs; they have a social structure similar to ours. We get them, we don't always get cats.

You don't see programs like "The Cat Whisperer" (I was going to say the Cat Hisser, but even that comes across to me as ailurophobic) or "It's Me or the Cat" on TV. We don't see the CFA or ICA cat shows on TV but Westminster Dog Show has made it to ESPN and Crufts gets on Animal Planet. Heck, the NatGeo program on Best Friends is called "Dogtown" not "Cat World." Mind you, I'm not criticizing. I'm glad NatGeo has discovered Best Friends. But you see where this is going.

I don't begrudge any attention on any other animals, but my hope has always been that what lessons were learned at MSFS can be be applied to other situations and other groups and the result will be that the general status of cats will rise. I'm sure there's volumes yet to learn and maybe there will MSFS Advanced Learning Course for people and cats.

The lessons learned in Pahrump, however painful, will certainly continue to help cats at Best Friends and elsewhere. I hope Sherry, Shelley and team will write a book or manual of some kind to document the training and socializing techniques developed in Pahrump and MSFS. The real success will be teaching other rescue groups and shelters how to socialize animals that are considered "feral." I would love to see that!

Hey Patty, is that Maynard??

Terri Gonzales and Sherry Woodard have written a 17-page booklet, "Socializing Very Shy or Fearful Cats," available for download here.

Thanks Joy! Perfect!