I have two 10 year old male former ferals that were rescued as kittens. The older one that was almost a year old is the social friendly one and the kitten rescued from near death with rhino-virus is the spook who only comes to me. I also have two (human!) little girls, 5 & 6.
About a 2 months ago, I saw one of the neighborhood strays had some terrible accident - her hind leg was gone at the joint. My back door neighbor was also concerned and talked me into trying to trap her ( she has 3 cats and four year old) . I worked on conditioning her for several weeks with food until she would let me sit within 5-6 feet while she fed inside a small dogloo. She actually started coming up on my back porch if I missed feeding time, and once she came in the kitchen while I had the door propped open. I trapped her, and took her to the vet. Though she's really small, I 'd seen her around for about a year and he confired she was adult and not neutered. She got rabies, flea and worm treatment (no ear mites amazingly) and he said though he would prefer to surgically remove the rest of the leg, it was healing fine and she did not have an infection. So she moved into a large kennel in my home office. She did know how to use a litter box and loves her food. She is getting socialized, though she really wants my boy cats to come in and see her, she cries and runs to the front of the crate whenever one of them walks by the door. I can open the crate to feed and clean the litter, and she doesn't hiss anymore, but she won't come near either. However, when she is in begging the boys mode and rubbing on the bars, I can reach in and stroke her and she will rub my hand - but only then. She can't be released because she will certainly die of starvation or another injury.
Surprise cat #2 happened yesterday. I went out to fill my bird feeder and a stray cat went flying over the fence, not a surprise since I have a fish pond and the water attracts cats and lots of other critters. But then I saw her kitten hanging off a pine tree. Dumb me, I reached out to grab it and it got me good in the thumb before I got its scruff. I am going to the emergency ward tonight as a day latter it looks even worse after cleaning and treating, sigh. So the kitten, who looks to be about 8 weeks old, is in my next biggest crate, which is not too big, but can fit a small litter pan and food dishes. It is currently curled up in its litter pan, so not sure where it's going to go when it needs to. My office is now a jail for feral cats. I thought the three legged cat, now named Elsie, would be happy about company, but NOOOO, she hissed at the kitten, now christened Cloudy, and has been sitting with her back to him all day. THe kitten's mother (who I had never seen before) came around looking for him this morning and she looks enough like Elsie that I suspect they are related. The kitten needs to go to a vet, but I already footed $150 for the first one, am looking for a low cost option soon.
Any tips on socializing 2 different cats at the same time???
About a 2 months ago, I saw one of the neighborhood strays had some terrible accident - her hind leg was gone at the joint. My back door neighbor was also concerned and talked me into trying to trap her ( she has 3 cats and four year old) . I worked on conditioning her for several weeks with food until she would let me sit within 5-6 feet while she fed inside a small dogloo. She actually started coming up on my back porch if I missed feeding time, and once she came in the kitchen while I had the door propped open. I trapped her, and took her to the vet. Though she's really small, I 'd seen her around for about a year and he confired she was adult and not neutered. She got rabies, flea and worm treatment (no ear mites amazingly) and he said though he would prefer to surgically remove the rest of the leg, it was healing fine and she did not have an infection. So she moved into a large kennel in my home office. She did know how to use a litter box and loves her food. She is getting socialized, though she really wants my boy cats to come in and see her, she cries and runs to the front of the crate whenever one of them walks by the door. I can open the crate to feed and clean the litter, and she doesn't hiss anymore, but she won't come near either. However, when she is in begging the boys mode and rubbing on the bars, I can reach in and stroke her and she will rub my hand - but only then. She can't be released because she will certainly die of starvation or another injury.
Surprise cat #2 happened yesterday. I went out to fill my bird feeder and a stray cat went flying over the fence, not a surprise since I have a fish pond and the water attracts cats and lots of other critters. But then I saw her kitten hanging off a pine tree. Dumb me, I reached out to grab it and it got me good in the thumb before I got its scruff. I am going to the emergency ward tonight as a day latter it looks even worse after cleaning and treating, sigh. So the kitten, who looks to be about 8 weeks old, is in my next biggest crate, which is not too big, but can fit a small litter pan and food dishes. It is currently curled up in its litter pan, so not sure where it's going to go when it needs to. My office is now a jail for feral cats. I thought the three legged cat, now named Elsie, would be happy about company, but NOOOO, she hissed at the kitten, now christened Cloudy, and has been sitting with her back to him all day. THe kitten's mother (who I had never seen before) came around looking for him this morning and she looks enough like Elsie that I suspect they are related. The kitten needs to go to a vet, but I already footed $150 for the first one, am looking for a low cost option soon.
Any tips on socializing 2 different cats at the same time???
