Socializing Jerry

Jerry hasn't been the most socialized cat. He tends to run away when visitors come and generally dislikes men. And his exposure to other cats has been rather limited. Things improved somewhat when I moved to Den Haag: Jerry  met the neighbour cats (he appeared to like the upstairs one and fought with the downstairs one), and his tolerance for men did increase (at least, it appears that he sometimes appreciated Matthijs).

And then we moved back to Amsterdam, and the socializing has increased significantly: more visitors and more cats. During Easter, he'd made friends with a neighbour cat - but the cat (and owners) ended up moving right before we moved in. But now the downstairs neighbour is watching over a cat - and Jerry has discovered the wonder of having a playmate. And the visiting cat has discovered Jerry's food. (The grass is always greener on the other side, right?)

While we have a cat door, the house of the visiting cat does not. That makes it easy for him to come visit (once he can convince the little girls downstairs to let him out), but not so easy for Jerry to visit him. So I told Jerry he just had to knock and ask if 'Baruch' could come out and play. Surprisingly enough, Jerry did listen to me!! However, perhaps in my socializing of Jerry, I'll have to work on him learning that meowing outside somebody's door at 11 at night, even if it is effective, is not exactly socially acceptable. (Fortunately, my downstairs neighbour has a sense of humour - and doesn't go to bed that early).