We have enjoyed every single one of the more than 100 adoptions we’ve done at The Cat Cafe. Some of them, however, stand out more than others. And we recently had one of those adoptions.

You may remember Primrose. When she was here, we had to warn customers that she had been abused and that she didn’t like hands. It was best to use a wand toy to interact with her, we said. We told them that she might lash out at hands.

Before coming to us, Primrose was with Department of Animal Services. As you know, since DAS is part of the Getting to Zero initiative, they do not euthanize any adoptable or treatable animal. Primrose presented a big challenge for them. Her aggressive nature, with her lashing out at both people and cats, had her initially listed as unadoptable.

Fortunately for her, Primrose lives in a community where the animal welfare organizations in the San Diego Animal Welfare Coalition work closely to find solutions that are in the best interests of the animals. Primrose was transferred to San Diego Humane Society‘s Behavior Center, where she received individualized attention from behavioral specialists. After showing signs of progress, Primrose was brought to The Cat Cafe for additional socialization and to live in a different environment.

When Primrose arrived at The Cat Cafe initially, she spent most of her time hiding in a cabinet. And she still lashed out at hands, even when those hands had food in them! We strongly suspected that she had been abused and associated hands with being hit.

We refused to give up on her. We continued to work on getting her to not fear hands so much — and who could blame her. If we had been hit by 30 foot cats, we’d fear paws and we’ve got a much larger brain than she does.

It took a long time and many scratches to get Primrose to come along. But eventually, she learned to trust people she knew. And one of the people she knew decided to adopt her.

Primrose clearly knew she was going home when she was adopted from The Cat Cafe. We opened the carrier, and she walked into it. We had to give her a little push to get her all the way in, but once we did that, she was fine.

And as soon as she arrived, Primrose showed she knew she was home. She walked around her new home, head bonking her people, and demanding to be pet. This from a cat who used to swat at hands that were feeding her? What an amazing transformation!

We’re so happy that The Cat Cafe was able to be a part of Primrose’s transformation from an unadoptable cat who would lash out at both people and cats to a loving and loved member of a family!