Blessings to you for taking in Ginger. Our cat Wolfie had a similar start to life. He was put out by the neighbor of a friend. The friend was the first rescuer and figured Wolfie had been out on his own for at least two of his first five months of life. Like Ginger, we believe he still bears the scars of his early life. (He and your dog are the same age.) He's always been a pretty tough customer. We always wondered how he survived on his own. This spring and summer I had the opportunity to take some time off from work, and was home with Wolfie a lot. I paid him a lot of attention, gave him lots of love. He was such a tough guy, I used to just leave him alone. We have a real nice relationship now. Congrats to Ginger, sweet puppie! And way to go, Mama (or Papa).