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- Aug 4, 2014
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Forgive me, I need to share some joy first. Something monumental happened.
We trapped the untrappable.
We finally trapped the first member of our house colony that we’ve been after for 3 years.
He (Pretty Kitty/PK) went missing for 4 months last summer, and came back with a head tilt and other issues. Then maybe 6 months ago, he developed some sort of infection on top of it.
Since he came back sick last year, all this time, we’ve tried trapping him at least once a week to no avail.
I’ve thrown everything I’ve got at this cat - regular box trap, XL box trap, drop trap, roundhouse trap, crate, carrier, dog trap, net, several makeshift traps. He wouldn’t go near any of them, he wasn’t even the slightest bit curious no matter the bait.
And it has killed us watching him be so sick and being unable to do anything.
But we finally got him. Hallelujah!
So we took him to the vet yesterday and unfortunately he tested positive for FIV, which I was already suspicious of given how sick he’s been the past year.
Now I’m wondering if I should test any other colony members or not.
Particularly this one cat (The Darkness) who fights with everyone and has definitely fought with PK.
In fact, I have my suspicions that The Darkness is the reason PK left, as he showed up right before PK went missing. It was only once a few weeks prior, and I didn’t see Darkness again until a couple weeks after PK left, but the one time I had seen him before that there was a very tense interaction between the two. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were fighting elsewhere until PK had enough and took off.
I’m especially concerned because PK is not the only one Darkness has fought with. He fights with everyone, except Bullseye. They used to be buds but stopped hanging out after Bullseye was neutered about a year ago (I haven’t seen them together at all since, so don’t know if Darkness would fight him or not now).
To be clear, my colony is not a “cohesive” colony. Most are neutered, but they only come here to eat and I don’t see them otherwise. They don’t hang out here, use our shelters, or eat together - all are very solitary.
.....And no one seems to get along.
Darkness and Bullseye were the only two we’ve ever seen even share a space without issue. No one else even tolerates other cats, least of all Darkness, who always insists on a bloody, fur-flying fight if he comes to eat and another cat is already there.
The possibility that Darkness - who is neutered - has FIV or FeLV has concerned me for a while due to this. So I’ve already trained him to go back in the trap and retrapping him is no issue whatsoever.
I’m just not sure what to do.
Because what if he is FIV+? Do I test everyone else too? (Everyone else is also essentially retrappable from having traps out all the time for PK).
And what the heck do I do with Darkness if he is? He’s prone to fighting. Leaving him outside is only going to infect other cats (which is why I also feel compelled to verify his status). The other cats also fight, but most of the time they will retreat after a bunch of yowling and posturing, so I’m not as concerned about them if they were to test positive (though it’s still a concern).
I can’t socialize Darkness. I have way too much on my plate and we don’t even know what we’re going to do with PK at this point now.
I’m just so stressed out about this. All my other colonies love each other, but this one is so fickle
At least we trapped PK right before the storms we’ve had all week -
We trapped the untrappable.
We finally trapped the first member of our house colony that we’ve been after for 3 years.
He (Pretty Kitty/PK) went missing for 4 months last summer, and came back with a head tilt and other issues. Then maybe 6 months ago, he developed some sort of infection on top of it.
Since he came back sick last year, all this time, we’ve tried trapping him at least once a week to no avail.
I’ve thrown everything I’ve got at this cat - regular box trap, XL box trap, drop trap, roundhouse trap, crate, carrier, dog trap, net, several makeshift traps. He wouldn’t go near any of them, he wasn’t even the slightest bit curious no matter the bait.
And it has killed us watching him be so sick and being unable to do anything.
But we finally got him. Hallelujah!
So we took him to the vet yesterday and unfortunately he tested positive for FIV, which I was already suspicious of given how sick he’s been the past year.
Now I’m wondering if I should test any other colony members or not.
Particularly this one cat (The Darkness) who fights with everyone and has definitely fought with PK.
In fact, I have my suspicions that The Darkness is the reason PK left, as he showed up right before PK went missing. It was only once a few weeks prior, and I didn’t see Darkness again until a couple weeks after PK left, but the one time I had seen him before that there was a very tense interaction between the two. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were fighting elsewhere until PK had enough and took off.
I’m especially concerned because PK is not the only one Darkness has fought with. He fights with everyone, except Bullseye. They used to be buds but stopped hanging out after Bullseye was neutered about a year ago (I haven’t seen them together at all since, so don’t know if Darkness would fight him or not now).
To be clear, my colony is not a “cohesive” colony. Most are neutered, but they only come here to eat and I don’t see them otherwise. They don’t hang out here, use our shelters, or eat together - all are very solitary.
.....And no one seems to get along.
Darkness and Bullseye were the only two we’ve ever seen even share a space without issue. No one else even tolerates other cats, least of all Darkness, who always insists on a bloody, fur-flying fight if he comes to eat and another cat is already there.
The possibility that Darkness - who is neutered - has FIV or FeLV has concerned me for a while due to this. So I’ve already trained him to go back in the trap and retrapping him is no issue whatsoever.
I’m just not sure what to do.
Because what if he is FIV+? Do I test everyone else too? (Everyone else is also essentially retrappable from having traps out all the time for PK).
And what the heck do I do with Darkness if he is? He’s prone to fighting. Leaving him outside is only going to infect other cats (which is why I also feel compelled to verify his status). The other cats also fight, but most of the time they will retreat after a bunch of yowling and posturing, so I’m not as concerned about them if they were to test positive (though it’s still a concern).
I can’t socialize Darkness. I have way too much on my plate and we don’t even know what we’re going to do with PK at this point now.
I’m just so stressed out about this. All my other colonies love each other, but this one is so fickle
At least we trapped PK right before the storms we’ve had all week -