I trapped Bob in early October to be neutered and released; the following day he was neutered and eartipped, but he was also diagnosed FIV positive with a URI. I couldn't release him back into the colony until the latter was treated, so he became a resident patient.
I suppose I should have seen earlier that Bob wasn't a feral--despite his initial panic at being captured and his frightened behavior at the spay/neuter clinic he's actually been quite calm. As we've treated him for his URI we've found that he's quite used to humans and is very affectionate--he knows "velvet paws" and loves belly rubs.
Recently we lost Nigel, who went missing. He may still return, but each passing day makes that more unlikely. This created a space for Bob, who will now be a permanent household resident. As I mentioned earlier, he is FIV positive, but in a few days his canines will be extracted due to advanced decay, so he'll be less able to transmit the disease via it's primary means--bite wounds. Besides, we've learned Bob would rather be a lover than a fighter. So far the biggest danger he poses is his URI--he'll need a second course of antibiotics--but that's being monitored (Bob's a big cat--10.5 lbs.--and medication resistant. At the clinic he took a full dose of Ketamine but still didn't go under; he had to be gassed on the OR table and came out before being eartipped. He also had to be wormed twice.).
Let's give a big "Hello" to Bob, who went from being a street cat scheduled to be released back to the street (as a policy I don't eartip strays, nor do I release them) to a housecat with two friendly humans. How lucky can you get...?
I suppose I should have seen earlier that Bob wasn't a feral--despite his initial panic at being captured and his frightened behavior at the spay/neuter clinic he's actually been quite calm. As we've treated him for his URI we've found that he's quite used to humans and is very affectionate--he knows "velvet paws" and loves belly rubs.
Recently we lost Nigel, who went missing. He may still return, but each passing day makes that more unlikely. This created a space for Bob, who will now be a permanent household resident. As I mentioned earlier, he is FIV positive, but in a few days his canines will be extracted due to advanced decay, so he'll be less able to transmit the disease via it's primary means--bite wounds. Besides, we've learned Bob would rather be a lover than a fighter. So far the biggest danger he poses is his URI--he'll need a second course of antibiotics--but that's being monitored (Bob's a big cat--10.5 lbs.--and medication resistant. At the clinic he took a full dose of Ketamine but still didn't go under; he had to be gassed on the OR table and came out before being eartipped. He also had to be wormed twice.).
Let's give a big "Hello" to Bob, who went from being a street cat scheduled to be released back to the street (as a policy I don't eartip strays, nor do I release them) to a housecat with two friendly humans. How lucky can you get...?
