Two words about Tiny: he isn’t! He’s a large male, almost all black, with a small spot of white on his chest. He has black whiskers and beautiful green eyes—altogether, a very handsome boy indeed. Tiny came to us via a shelter; he was simply deposited at their door when his owner moved out of the area. We estimate that he’s about five years old.

We don’t know anything about Tiny’s life before he came to us, but we suspect it was not entirely rosy. He seems especially unhappy around other cats, so we suggest he go to a home where he’ll be an “only” feline. In addition, Tiny can sometimes nip and scratch, although, because we haven’t been able to keep him isolated, this may just be a behavior “transfer” from the fact that he gets upset at having other cats around. Nonetheless, for the present, we recommend that he go to a home with no small children. We have also discovered that Tiny has HCM, the most common form of heart disease in cats. Right now, this is mild enough that he doesn’t need medication for it, but his heart should be re-checked once or twice a year.

We know that Tiny reacts to some people better than he does to others, and he can be gentle and affectionate. He seems to want to like people, but we believe he needs to learn to trust again. Can you help him?