feral who is sick and can't be caught

I look after four ferals in my work place. Two are pretty tame and allow me to touch and even hold them. The other two are frightened of getting too near me. I have never been able to get them into a box or trap (except when they were young and spayed/neutered). Now one of them has some dental/mouth/throat problem. She is obviously hungry, but gagging and dribbling white foam every time she tries to eat. It must really hurt her to eat. I have noticed she is loosing weight. I have tried to approach and catch her but presently its impossible. I could wait for her to get weak enough so that I can grab her, but I would rather get her to a vet as soon as possible. Also she might go off to hide and I won't find her. Can anyone suggest a solution before she starves to death

Hi Jackie and welcome to the site! Bless you for taking care of these ferals. You're right, you really do need to get her to a vet ASAP. I'll move this to our Feral Forum where our experts who work with ferals all the time can help you out.

Hi Jackie-

I would contact The Cat Welfare Society of Israel and ask them to help you. Our webmistress works with them closely, and they will be able to help you trap this sickly one and get it in to be seen.

Thank you for caring!

Here is the link

CWSI

The cat welfare society was already at my workplace trying to trap this cat. The guy is an expert but could not catch her so I really don't know what to do. Maybe now she is sick and weaker, we should try again.

This is so very sad. I commend you for trying to help this poor cat and for caring for the ferals. I agree with Hissy...the CWSI will be the best folks to seek help from. Good luck and please let us know what happens with this poor cat.

Hi Jackie! Good to see you here!

I don't have any special feral advice to give. I think you should call the CWSI again and talk to Rivi directly - she is the expert on ferals.

Hi Jackie. I just wanted to say thank you for caring for these cats! My thoughts and prayers are with you - I hope that with the CWSI you are able to help this poor kitty.

Thank you for being their angel.



I don't know how things work in Israel or with CWSI, but if you wanted to put some extra time into it on your own and can borrow a have-a-heart type trap, we have lots of trapping hints here - they usually work for cats anywhere in the world. Trapping Cats and Kittens

After a bit of research and phone calls to Rivi from the cat welfare society there are a couple of options. To throw a net over her (in this case a sheet) or give her some sedatives (I have dismissed that idea as she would go away to sleep and hide and I wouldn't then find her. Also went to the vet and he gave me a prescription for cortizone for the immediate help we need to increase her immunity system. If then I can improve her immediate position and get her eating, then I can continue to try and catch her as well as putting her on anti-biotics. That is until we have her in our clutches and can actually diagnose what she has. Now its just guess work. Now I am going in to give a tablet dissolved in tuna. Hope she turns up and eats it.

Jackie,

Bless your heart for caring so much about this sick one. I hope the meds do the trick!

You are such a great person to be willing to work so hard to help this poor feral.

I hope you have success with the medication and the sheet trap. I will send all of my good luck thoughts to you...perhaps that will help get this cat into the sheet.

so far a failure. I mixed too much food with the tablet so as she took just a small mouthful, it probably wasn't enough. It hurts her so much now to eat -- I think she has more or less stopped trying. She also associates me with pain now so runs further away from me. I think we have a dead cat on our hands unless someone comes up with a miracle solution. I am going to the local zoo now to see if I can borrow a net. It might be easier to catch her with that than a sheet. I am scared that she'll just give up and won't show up for her feeding session and go off to hide somewhere and then it will be impossible to find her.

I am very sorry to hear that. Have you tried using a trap to catch this cat? MOre info regarding traps can be found on these websites - http://www.livetrap.com/
http://www.animal-traps.com/ - I ordered from this website and it seems good so far.
Good luck and keep us posted!

Pam I can tell you the quickest way to catch an untrappable feral. You need a small cage of live mice that will fit into a larger trap. Put the mice (still in their cage) in the back of the trap, cover the inside of the trap with a thin layer of newsheet (so the cat does not feel the wire ) but don't make it a thick layer or the spring to the trap won't engage. Place the whole thing in a secluded area you know the cat will go to and just wait. The cage of mice will be protected from the cat BUT the trap needs to be manned so that the mice don't die of fright being trapped with a feral kitty.

Best of luck!

Excellent news - the feral has eaten and the problem seems to have cured itself. Yesterday she took three-quarters of a tin of food along with a tablet of predistone/ (cortizone). Today, on vets orders I stopped the cortizone and gave her premium food - another three-quarters of a tin plus some supplement of vitamins and minerals. She already looks plumper and is once again grooming herself. I wonder what the problem was. I can only assume it was a mouth ulcer that popped, or an infected tooth that fell out or a foreign object was lodged in her throat that stopped her swallowing the food. She would gag and dribble. Anyway for the time being - alls well that ends well and thanks for all the advice.

What wonderful news! I am so glad she is doing better. I guess they mystery of her illness will never be solved.

I went ahead and merged these two threads - hope no one minds.

Jackie - I'm so glad to hear the kitty seems to be doing better despite not being trapped! Thank you so much for caring for this little one. It's so wonderful to know there are people like you out there, willing to provide care despite not being able to handle the cat!

I'm glad this seems to have a happy ending.