Rho, this handsome and loving gargoyle, is looking for a loving forever home.
Update: I’ll be making a separate post in the future but Rho remained with us until his passing in late Feb of 2024. We were thankful and blessed to have him and his grounding stone personality with us for the time that we did.
When Ty and I began working with Rho in early 2021, he was living isolated with minimal care on an enclosed screened porch. His owner had passed away in 2018 and the folks that had inherited him were unable to provide him with the social, physical, and emotional care that he needed. Due to this, he had become shy, untrusting, and reactive to people. Through a slow build-up of positive experiences, we were able to comfortably be in the room with him and give him human social time, introduce him to our cat and pups (which we were told would be an impossibility), and he has only continued to improve and heal over the time that we’ve spent with him.
When we left our temporary living situation in late December of 2021, we took Rho with us with the intention of finding him a new home and to make sure that he was receiving adequate attention in the meantime. While it took him some time to adapt to another new living space, he has adjusted beautifully and is even brave enough to venture back outside when we allow him to do so (though he is understandably reluctant without the company of his human companions). He has met another cat, a plethora of folks that have come through the house where we are staying, and even a rescue tortoise.
We’ve nicknamed Rho as “The Boulder” but also refer to him as a gargoyle in a loving and endearing way as he has become more interactive and shown us his personality. Stoic, reserved, and often very calculated he will loom and peer precariously off the edge of chairs, beds, and furniture. He will calmly and vigilantly stare at you and his surroundings as he pleases from his claimed pedestals. He will stealthily (or not so stealthily when he is in a playful zoom-y mood) appear in spaces and plant himself there firmly and if he is comfortable there is little you can do to convince him to do anything else. “The Boulder” is a character in the children’s show “Avatar: The Last Airbender” (voiced by Mick Foley) that is based on the persona that many recognize as the “The Rock” (Dwayne Johnson). After one of the first nights that Rho had slept on our bed as a completely unmoving rock between the two of us, I had jokingly narrated for him a statement along the lines of “The Boulder is comfortable where he is and will not be disturbed.” Since then, it has stuck and we still regularly narrate his life in this way.
A few notes about Rho and his behavior and needs as we have observed over the past year:
He is a neutered senior, approximately 13-14 years old. As such, expect that his bones and joints may occasionally be sore (especially when there is bad weather).
He needs and flourishes with calm and gentle handling. If you are too vigorous with petting or playing, he may become overstimulated and lightly swat you (or if you continue to push, he may nip). If you are rough or heavy handed, you are likely to damage his trust and undo much of the work that has gone into his recovery.
He tolerates other animals and can co-exist with them but has little interest in socializing with other cats or dogs. While he can co-habitate with other animals (as long as they are calm and he is acclimated slowly) we would prefer to find him a home where he can live out the remainder of his years as the center of attention.
We have done some minor deaf testing and are fairly certain that while he is not completely deaf, he is at least mildly hearing impaired. This doesn’t affect him much aside from occasional surprise if you pet him and he doesn’t know you are there.
He is learning not to overeat and may do so when his environment changes. He will vomit (repeatedly) if he is under stress and we suspect that he may have an intolerance for fish.
He loves small crinkly catnip toys and others with strings or feathers attached. He will suck and drool on them until they are soaking wet so be prepared!
On the note of play, his inhibition control with his claws is still fairly low and he may unintentionally grab you if you are physically holding a toy (versus having it on a string or tossing it to him).
He loves sitting in windows and gazing at the outside world from a safe distance.
We are currently staying just outside the Lynchburg area of Virginia but I would happily travel to deliver him to a promising home. If you have interest or know someone who does and would like to discuss adoption, please don’t hesitate to send me an email at encryptedritual@gmail.com. This is not a first come, first served process as we would like to find him a home that fits him well.
If you’re not looking to adopt but would like to help us, I encourage you to share this blog post around!
Thanks so much. We look forward to updating everyone when he has finally found his forever home! 🌈