Shelter Cat Question

I wasn't sure where to post this, but since it was regarding behavior, I thought this was the right place. If not, feel free to move it.

Ok, you all know that Reyah was turned into the shelter when she was pregnant and had another female cat with her. The shelter suspects that Reyah and this cat are sisters or mother and daughter. Anyway, my friend still had the other one and was fostering her for the shelter, but due to relatives coming to visit, she took her back to the shelter. Well, I just got an urgent email from her saying that since returning to the shelter, this little girl has gone crazy. She won't let anyone near her. If they try, she hisses, and tries to scratch or bite them. I just saw her on Sunday and she was fine. She's a beautiful Dilute Tortie with longer hair than Reyah. Anyway, the shelter was wanting to euthanize her, so my husband told me to NOT let that happen. My friend is leaving work early to go get her and then bringing her here. I'm suspecting that she's just terrified up there. Any ideas on what could be going on? I'll be able to evaluate her more when she gets here. It's been awhile since I worked with shelter/rescue cats, so I'm not sure what to expect. I'm going to fix her up a quiet area. Should I allow her to see Reyah immediately, since they were close before, or is that an accident waiting to happen if this one is so upset? Thanks!

no, do not let her see Reyah immediately. stick to your plan and put her in a quiet place at first. this sounds like a tough situation and a lot of what you do next depends on your experience and comfort level with "shelter cats", as well as what you plan to do with the cat. Are you going to keep her?

Ok, that's what I thought. I used to do a lot of animal rescue, but stopped with cats about 6 months to a year before I lost my girl in May of 2005. Prior to that, my husband and I fostered and adopted out 42 cats (I have records of every cat we ever cared for). Most of them were shelter cats, strays, pregnant strays, kittens that required bottle-feeding, and cats from abused or neglected situations. Very few of them came from loving homes. It's just been awhile, since I did that, so I'm trying to get back on track and pick up where I left off.

I'm taking both of them to be spayed on Tuesday at my vet. Someone had donated their spays. If Hera (the new one) works out, then, yes, we're keeping her. If not, then we'll just foster her for the shelter, but we're really hoping that it will work. Since I don't work outside of my home, I will be here with her more to help her come around, but it will be on her terms for the first day or two. We wanted 2 adult cats more than a pair of kittens, so the kitten that we're bottle-feeding was never a definite that we'd keep her. We were just bottle-feeding her until she was weaned, and then we'd make our decision at that time.

tnkitty, i think it's absolutely wonderful that you helped so many cats. i'm sorry that you lost a cat that apparently was so special to you. i have too. keep going though! you have the experience, so i bet you will do fine and "Hera" is lucky to have you caring for her now. if you have any specifc problems, please post again. best of luck!

It's good that you will be spending time with her. Try reading to her so that she hears your voice. I wish you loads of luck with her. Thank you so much for helping this poor distraught girl.

Originally Posted by feral65

tnkitty, i think it's absolutely wonderful that you helped so many cats. i'm sorry that you lost a cat that apparently was so special to you. i have too. keep going though! you have the experience, so i bet you will do fine and "Hera" is lucky to have you caring for her now. if you have any specifc problems, please post again. best of luck!

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She was very special. Her name was Smuckers (named by previous owner). Her story was that a lady took a cat into the vet that had a litter of kittens. The mother didn't produce enough milk, so the lady was supposed to be bottle-feeding. Well, she didn't and all of the kittens had died except Smuckers and her sister. A lady at the vet had decided at that point, she was taking the two remaining kittens. So she did and she bottle-fed them and had them for 2yrs. She ended up getting engaged and her fiance' was so deathly allergic to cats that he couldn't even be in the same house with one. If he was anywhere near a cat, he couldn't breathe. Anyway, needless to say, she had to find a home for them. At that time, I had just recently lost a 7wk old kitten to Feline Leukemia (had got the kitten from neighbors). Since Smuckers had already been vaccinated agains FELV, the lady at the vet asked me if I would be interested in her. My dad agreed (I was still living at home at that time) and we got her. She was a part of my life for almost 11yrs. When I moved, she went with me. Even though she was a strictly indoor cat, she was diagnosed with heartworms in 2005. I had always kept our dogs on HW prevention, but the vets always told me that it wasn't necessary for her, so I didn't. They put her on medication, but she started getting worse. She just laid around, wouldn't eat, was losing weight, and had vomiting and diarrhea symptoms. Since there is no cure for HWs and the medication wasn't helping, I couldn't watch her suffer anymore, so I had to make the terrible decision to let her go. She would have been 13yrs old two months later. After I lost her, I couldn't bring myself to get another cat until Reyah. She is so much like Smuckie in so many ways. Just her personality, movements, attitude, etc. Anyway, that brings you up on that situation.

Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry for such a sad loss. And I had no idea an indoor cat could get heartworms! I don't believe any of ours has ever been vaccinated for that... I'd better look into it now.

Thank you for the warning.

Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry for such a sad loss. And I had no idea an indoor cat could get heartworms! I don't believe any of ours has ever been vaccinated for that... I'd better look into it now.

Thank you for the warning.

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You're very welcome. A mosquito had to have gotten into the house in order to infect her. I will never have a cat without using the prevention now. Going through that once was enough.