Living with Rambo

Hello some of you may all ready know my story, i am posting to all my current situation and seeking any advice. I'll start with a bit of history, I was feeding a feral/stray male adult for almost a year- twice a day at 5 am and 5 pm. He always kept a distance from me and would never eat until i left the area. He was jumpy and frighten by everything-sometimes causing him to run away and not be able to finish his food. He always arrived alone with no other cats until this past August/September. One rainy week in the dark at 5am, I noticed 5 or 6 younger cats peeping out at me from under my shed. i called a local TNR, who assisted in the TNR. Unfortunately I was told, only one kitten was able to be socialized and adopted. Everyone else including the adult male that i had been feeding was released back to my home yard in the wooded area where they came from. I always had a soft spot for the male, his eyes were so sad and I felt that he did not want to be outside. The person who trapped him said he was a true Tommy and named him Rambo. After TNR he was treated for a hardened facial abscess, broken rib and multiple scabbed/wounds/scars on his body. All the cats received medical attention/shots etc, I was set up with a feeding station and some shelter for them. I continued to put food out twice a day, and I also continued to feed Rambo- he always came to eat no matter the weather snow, rain. Rambo never liked to eat with the other cats that were released, he would always come before or after them for feeding never together. Three weeks ago after some great advice, i re-trapped Rambo with a drop trap, and moved him to my closed in garage. He is in a kennel equipped with bedding, food, water, litter box and space to walk. The first day after trapping him, he slept in the litter box, growled and hissed- but soon learned that the bed was more comfortable. By the second day we could touch him. I have a large puppy gate around the kennel, so we let him out to walk and be social with us-he has never tried to jump or run away. A few times he has given us a warning bite- where he would put his mouth on our hand and not actually bite down. When we told him no, he would oddly flatten out on the floor or hide in the corner. Does this flattening behavior seem strange for a cat that has lived outdoors? He also jumped onto the kennel and i told him no and he quickly jumped down, so he seems familiar with no-the word no seems to frighten him. He has not bitten or scratched us, however, there are days that I can see he is jumpy and extremely cautious- I am not sure why. Where we are now, we can now touch him, pet him-ears, tail etc. we are just starting to try to pick him up. he does not seem to like his hind quarters touched. The person who TNR him this past September, offered to take him to the vet for a re-check . when she first trapped him he was growling, biting etc, which prompted the name Rambo. He was not like that when i trapped him, he was much calmer. what we learned was he has several missing and broken teeth-Is this common for an outside stray/feral? He is 7-8 years old, facial abscess is healing, broken rib no worst and he was boarder line for leukemia and aids. Does this test result make sense? The vet said he needs to come back in one month for re-testing. Other wise he is a strong double pawed healthy cat that does not appear sickly. He is still isolated from my indoor cats I do not want to infect them. I have a 18 yr calico with lymphoplasmacytic rhinitis , a 10 yr female tuxcedo true feral with hemorrhagic renal disease and a 7 yr male tuxcedo that is very infant like-taken from mom too soon and had to be raised by us. Please share your advice/opinions with me thank you charlie

Hi and welcome to the TCS site and Forums!

As you wrote it, it sounds like he did had a home once upon a time. This is probably there he learned the word No.  Although he must have been loved too, otherwise he wouldnt warm up to you SO quickly.

You had done everything according to the manual. Including the quarantine. Which is extra important in your case, as 2 of your residents are sensitive for infections.

You cant risk.

About the raised niveu for "leukemia and aids"  (did the vet used precisely these words?).

  I hope others more knowleable will fill in.

Good the vet is retesting.  If he gets clean bill, excellent.  (how to let them meet, we will take later).

But if the tests dont gets OK,

you can probably adopt him if you wish and can, even with leukemia / cat aids hanging above him.  Some people do, and they cats can often live many good years, as long as the symptoms doesnt burst open.

But I wouldnt NOT recommend you let him be with these two sickly residents.

Possibly he can met the tuxedo, if they are friendly to each other. But a no no for the others.

Let others fill in!

Tx a lot for caring about Rambo and the others!

Good luck!   *vibes*

HI Charlie!!!! I, of course, remember you and am happy to hear from you again I so appreciate your effort's to continue to save and TNR cat's. AWWWWWWW Rambo - What a love :heart3: Rambo is definitely not a true feral cat, he must have had a human at one point in his life. To be 7 - 8 years of age and after a couple of day's you are able to pet him and he even responds to your NO, tell's me this was once a pet . Maybe many years ago. OH the poor guy - all that he has endured and had to suffer through, breaks my heart for him. But now he has found you, his cat champion to give him a new life. BLESS you for that :heart3:

The flattening down is very, very typical of any cat - feral or not - when they are frightened and want to make themselves as small as possible. He seems to really want to be a good boy and so smart too. I think you are progressing very well just as you are. Your doing a great job and Rambo is making wonderful progress.

I would recommend keeping him totally isolated from your other cat's. I have never heard of "borderline" FeLk or FIV :dk: They either have one or both, or they don't have it. Not sure on that one. I would get another test done very soon, if he has been quarantined in your garage for at least two weeks now, go ahead and get another FeLk/FIV test done. It should be a definitive result. :nod:

I am sure other's will come along too and offer some great advice/suggestions as well. So glad to have you back on the Feral Forum posting again. We want to help in anyway possible

Awwww bless you for all your hard work - and especially for taking in this kitty that so obviously wants to be off "the streets" !!!! :heart3:

I, too, am confused by this "borderline" test result. :dk: A SNAP test indicates "yes" or "no," there's no "borderline." There can be false positives, but the only way to confirm is drawing blood and sending it out for further testing, checking for specific antibodies, and it costs a good chunk. (I don't know what the confirmatory test is for FeLV (Leukemia), but for FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus - it is NOT "AIDS," - it's comparable to HIV in people, not AIDS. AIDS is when they're actually sick from the virus, and most cats with FIV don't progress to that point) the confirmatory test is called Western Blot. Here it costs around $165, versus the $35 SNAP test. But there are no false positives with a Western Blot. It tests for two antibodies. If they test positive for one, not both, then it is considered "transitory," and the assumption is that they were bitten by an infected cat, but their bodies are fighting it.

It does sound like you're doing everything right for this baby boy in need!

As to some of your specific questions...

Yes, kitties that have been living outside on their own often have battered/broken teeth. :nod: They may need some attention.
Yes, the flattening, as Feralvr explained, is normal when they're scared. If you're not giving him a lot of positive feedback too, telling him WHAT a good kitty he is (for our Chumley, when we were going through this process, he used to bite. So the bite would get a "no" and then we'd leave - he'd get ignored. When he just put his mouth on our hand, but didn't bite, he got praised to high heaven - but we also knew it was the signal he didn't want any more touching. So we'd give him a treat, or see if he wanted a brush or something).

Chum was terrified of toys at first, but he soon learned they weren't out to get him, and he just could not - and cannot - get enough play time in! He LOVES to play (and he's four or five now).

So while it is important to use "no," even though he really doesn't seem to want to make you unhappy and it scares him - I'd give him as many "WHAT a good boy's" as possible.

I'd also just spend time hanging out there, not trying to interact. :nod: Just be there. Read out loud, do whatever you can there, just letting him get used to you, and watch you, and learn he can trust you. :heart3:

OH - on the touching his back end. Kitties that weren't properly socialized as kittens, meaning they weren't touched much - are often very sensitive on the back end, so it could just be that. :nod:

Many vibes for you and Rambo!

The rescue person that originally trapped Rambo was the one who took him to the vet for testing. And now that I am reading the post from LDG post, and the sentence with  "and the assumption is that they were bitten by an infected cat, but their bodies are fighting it" sounds very familiar. I am almost positive that is what the rescue person told me when I kept asking what does "board-line" mean?? It will be a few days after Christmas when he goes back in for retesting.  I'll keep him isolated from my indoor cats, and I'll continue socializing him.  My garage is closed in, does anyone think it is a bad idea to let him roam the garage? He can't get out and he can't drink or eat anything bad. I would like to increase his space, and I want to see if he'll continue to use the cat box.

I think it would be fine to let him loose in the garage. I would at first start by letting him out for short periods for a couple of days before you leave him loose full time. Although, I wonder if he would allow you to put him back into his Kennel area after being let loose. Just make sure there is NO way he can escape out of the garage. Double check every thing. Cats can fit through pretty small crevices and openings if they want out. I would also suggest using two litter boxes when you allow him more space, just to give him more chances to be good about using the box.

Rambo update so far so good. the first day we left him out alone in the garage for short periods of time and we were able to gently guide him into the kennel, buy using our hands around the side of him. we can tell he is not fond of this but he is not biting or hissing. day 2 we decided to leave his kennel door open and let him have free roam of the garage-and check frequently on him. his food is placed in the kennel so he has to eat in there, but the door is open. he is exploring all over the garage and has been coming out to us when called, and stays with us for scratches and pats. he almost consistently is kneading i don't think i have ever owned a cat that kneads so much. tonight was the first night that he actually fell asleep in front of us by my feet on a blanket that i set out for him. my husband and i were talking and i looked down to see Rambo lying down on the blanket sleeping. i can't believe what a good boy he has been-and i don't understand why he was living on his own outside.

AWWWWW My heart just melted reading this update :heart3: Really, you are just wonderful people and Rambo is SO lucky and is showing you how much he loves you with all of this kneading . I think you have found a fantastic cat and he deserves a good loving home after all he has endured living outdoors. Who knows :dk: what happened to them early in their lives - so sad, isn't it ? .... :shame: We will never know why Rambo had to fend for himself outdoor's for so long. BUT his future look's very, very bright now :sun::sun::sun: thank's to you

today was the day rambo went back in for testing. he is positive for feline aids, not leukemia. I not sure what this fully means yet. but i am very saddened. he does not appear sickly, his coat is shiney and he has gained quiet a bit of weight.  i just had a feeling that he would be positive- he has too many old scars/bite marks on his body. my daughter said that she would foster him/keep him indoors -because he can not come into my home with the other cats. i would appreciate any feed back/experiences anyone can give me on what exactly this means.  I also would like to know what food is best for him. he is currently eating fancy feast dry and wet. i would appreciate any information.

Feralvr said:

AWWWWW My heart just melted reading this update :heart3: Really, you are just wonderful people and Rambo is SO lucky and is showing you how much he loves you with all of this kneading . I think you have found a fantastic cat and he deserves a good loving home after all he has endured living outdoors. Who knows :dk: what happened to them early in their lives - so sad, isn't it ? .... :shame: We will never know why Rambo had to fend for himself outdoor's for so long. BUT his future look's very, very bright now :sun::sun::sun: thank's to you

Click to expand...

Well, first of all I have to agree with Feralvr on this. I missed that update, and just AWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :heart3:

And how sweet your daughter is willing to adopt him! I sent a bunch of links, so you can decide how you want to proceed.... but there really is no reason not to adopt him and have him join your kitties if you want to. So many vets just aren't very... versed... on current knowledge of FIV. :nod:

But basically with this virus... they're not necessarily sick. And may never be "sick" from the virus itself. It slowly deteriorates their immune system. So the older they get, the more susceptible they may become to something like an upper respiratory illness. But if something like that happens, you may have to treat them with a stronger antibiotic, or for a little longer than you otherwise would... but for the most part, usually they don't need special care.

Our Chumley is doing just great! He is SO beautiful now! He was a cranky, scraggly kitty with diarrhea when we rescued him... then food allergies.... but his holistic DVM got him fixed up, and now he's got a thick, gorgeous coat, no itchies.... and he's just a love with big ol' tom cat jowls. :lol3: (In fact, the picture in my avatar is of Chumley).

AW Charlie - it will be alright . Laurie has great knowledge on the subject of FIV in cat's. You will have a lot of support. Don't be sad - this can be managed and Rambo actually CAN live with other kitties as long as he is not aggressive to other cat's. He just sound's too sweet and it can be done with just some monitoring in the beginning during introductions. BUT how great that your daughter can take him in for fostering right now. BUT I think if you are willing, he can be integrated into you family of cat's sometime when you are feeling more knowledgeable about FIV and what to expect.