Hi everyone!
I've had a couple posts on the Stray cat part of the board, but for a quick story - I'm a huge animal lover with cats my whole life growing up with my parents, and I got a couple cockatiels in college. I love my birdies and they are fantastic. This summer, we had a momma cat have a litter of kittens in our backyard! We got momma cat fixed, took in the babies. All kitties got adopted out - but we ended up keeping one of them because we got sooo attached, and this kitty was very shy and we weren't sure if anyone would want him anyways.... he's our little sweetie. So, my birdies are now in the office with the door closed at all times. I'm an internet addict so they still get lots of time with their mommy (me), and I make sure our cat cannot get inside.
So... here's the question. We've been feeding momma cat every since (early June). She's a very very shy kitty. She sits outside the house waiting for her food, but hides in the bushes as soon as I open the door. Now she still walks away, but she keeps herself visible to me - hasn't approached me yet or eaten with me there. So long story short, over the past couple months, I've been wondering whether I should take her in. She just pulls at the heart strings.
Our concerns are - she's an EXCELLENT hunter.... I know the birdies are in their room with a closed door and in the cage when I'm not in with them, but I worry about one day years in the future when we have kids and if the kids accidentally let the door open.... and things like that. It makes me sick. I know with our cat now that could be a problem too, but he's kind of a chicken and when he's seen the birds, he's actually scared of their noise. But this outside kitty is a fantastic hunter....
Our other concern is just the fact that our kitten was painfully shy and withdrawn until he became the only cat. He never purred or enjoyed our company until his brothers were adopted. As soon as they got adopted, he did start purring and within a week was coming to us, but before then, he just hid and wasn't very happy. I wouldn't want him to regress with another cat!
Sorry for such a long post. Thanks for any advice or experiences that are similar!
I've had a couple posts on the Stray cat part of the board, but for a quick story - I'm a huge animal lover with cats my whole life growing up with my parents, and I got a couple cockatiels in college. I love my birdies and they are fantastic. This summer, we had a momma cat have a litter of kittens in our backyard! We got momma cat fixed, took in the babies. All kitties got adopted out - but we ended up keeping one of them because we got sooo attached, and this kitty was very shy and we weren't sure if anyone would want him anyways.... he's our little sweetie. So, my birdies are now in the office with the door closed at all times. I'm an internet addict so they still get lots of time with their mommy (me), and I make sure our cat cannot get inside.
So... here's the question. We've been feeding momma cat every since (early June). She's a very very shy kitty. She sits outside the house waiting for her food, but hides in the bushes as soon as I open the door. Now she still walks away, but she keeps herself visible to me - hasn't approached me yet or eaten with me there. So long story short, over the past couple months, I've been wondering whether I should take her in. She just pulls at the heart strings.
Our concerns are - she's an EXCELLENT hunter.... I know the birdies are in their room with a closed door and in the cage when I'm not in with them, but I worry about one day years in the future when we have kids and if the kids accidentally let the door open.... and things like that. It makes me sick. I know with our cat now that could be a problem too, but he's kind of a chicken and when he's seen the birds, he's actually scared of their noise. But this outside kitty is a fantastic hunter....
Our other concern is just the fact that our kitten was painfully shy and withdrawn until he became the only cat. He never purred or enjoyed our company until his brothers were adopted. As soon as they got adopted, he did start purring and within a week was coming to us, but before then, he just hid and wasn't very happy. I wouldn't want him to regress with another cat!
Sorry for such a long post. Thanks for any advice or experiences that are similar!
