I stumbled upon Dexter at a time when I needed a pet companion. My husband and I saw him through a glass window at a pet shop in Damansara Utama. Clearly he was an adult cat way too big for his cage. Upon queries, we found out he had been caged all 2 years of his life in the petshop, hardly let out except for occasional baths. I stayed with him in the shop for almost an hour, playing with him, coaxing him out of the cage slowly. I was not in the habit of buying pets from petshops but I knew I had to remove him from his current conditions.

As we were due for our Jakarta trip the next day, we couldn't take him home immediately, so we paid a
booking fee and reluctantly left for our 4 day trip. I couldn't get my mind off him throughout the trip. That was the first time an animal had touched me so deeply. Upon our return we
immediately took him home. That was on 20th August 09.

At home, Dexter was very very timid, we had to keep him in a small room and barricaded a small cosy corner for him since he was caged for a long time. He displayed various symptoms of a traumatized cat, timid, unsocialised, didn't know how to play,
terrified of human contact and he had to be coaxed to eat. For a
long time he didn't know how to enjoy treats and would only eat what's served in the feeding bowl. He didn't appreciate toys either.

It took him about a week before he started exploring our home and for the longest time he would seek solace under our TV console and would only come out when we went to bed. With an extreme amount if patience, TLC as well as the introduction of
our female cat Sophie about a month later, Dexter turned to be such a special boy. He's very expressive and vocal. You can see from his face if he's angry, upset, comfortable or sulking. He doesn't make the usual meowing sounds but kind of a babyish gurgle. He constantly needs people around although he
absolutely hates being carried or cuddled. He loves his head stroked and tummy rubbed. Dexter really reminds me of a baby. He cries when he wakes up from sleep so we have to reassure him tht he's not alone. Sometimes he gets nightmares (I believe) and wakes up with a start, yowling. Only when we call out to him does he calm down and fall back to sleep...Every now and hen we see changes in him. Sometimes for the good, sometimes not LOL.

Recently he discovered he can push a door open if it's ajar. If the room door is tightly closed, he'll bash his body against the door with a loud thud til I open it! LOL.

Dexter is still a highly stressed cat, changes in environment like boarding stresses him so he's prone to fungus attacks tho he
recovers very quickly. He's still wary of strangers and still very antisocial and is only comfortable with me and my daughter. He comes when he's called and now dominate the couch :)

I'm glad I was there for him as he is there for me now. He's far from a perfect cat but neither am I a perfect human so we compliment eachother well. Although he drives me crazy at times especially when he decides he needs to do some territorial
markings around the house, I can't imagine home without him...

That's the story of my Dexter :)