Newly adopted feral adjusting well, but...

Well we did get them both into the vet. If Cookie is 7 weeks old (we are certain he is) then he is just small for his age. He weighs one pound. He got dewormed. Binky is back home after her spay. Her bloodwork was just fine and the feline leukemia/ feline immunodeficiency virus test came back negative, which is great considering she was feral for a year. She is also vaccinated for the year. Right now she's mad at us and is hiding under the couch, but this should go away.

Aw, she'll get over it. :heart2: I'm also glad it all worked out. And that is GREAT news she tested negative!

Cookie must be teeny :rub: :heart3: So glad that Binky's surgery is done and her bloodwork was good and negative Great work! Hope Cookie continues to do well :cross:

Feralvr said:

Cookie must be teeny

So glad that Binky's surgery is done and her bloodwork was good and negative

Great work! Hope Cookie continues to do well

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He is a small kitten but the vet tech didn't think he seemed underweight for his size. He hasn't nursed in about 24 hours. Binky has been pushing him away herself. She has come out from under the couch and is accepting petting. She doesn't seem spooked at the new tinkling tags on her collar (ID and rabies tag.) Microchipping would have been $75 each cat and we did not have that, and the vets pretty much said that nobody where we live knows about it anyway. However if we make a long distance move we plan on microchipping then and putting in a mobile phone number in case one or both lose their tags. I've heard of some people making tags saying "on the move" or something like that and adding a cell phone number. We don't plan on moving for some time anyway.But anyway, Binky comes out for food and to groom her baby, but no suckling is going on. Cookie is lapping up formula and also eating wettened kitten food. He won't touch it completely dry. As Cookie was dewormed yesterday, he had diarrhea a few times yesterday, poor thing. But we are wetting his food with unflavored pedialyte and added a touch of pedialyte to his water. The diarrhea seems to be over today.

:nod: Yeah, the dewormer can do that, especially to little kitties.

WOW - that is a LOT of money for a microchip! I don't remember what we paid the vet to do it here, but it was nothing like that at all! Funny how much more it costs to rescue a kitty than adopt one.

That IS a lot of money for a microchip and I think that is outrageous too Near me, it is about $36.00 for a microchip and with the TNR organization - it is included in the spay/neuter fee!

Good to know that Cookie's diarrhea is better today! More vibes for that little guy to continue to thrive :rub:

Well, Binky is exercising another trait of the housecat: being picky about her food. We had fed her canned for a while when she was pregnant and nursing, when she was still an outdoor kitty. Now, she's an indoor kitty and spayed, and she won't touch the food if it even has the tiniest bit of dry in it. And we'd gotten a grain free food on purpose. We are feeding her canned for now, but trying to get her to eat it mixed with the dry. She needs to eat, because Cookie is still nursing off of her (the vet made the tiniest incision and the nursing is not hurting her stitches in any way.) Cookie is also eating food, but is getting the idea from his momma that anything other than canned should be ignored. The problem is, when Binky eats canned she gets bad diarrhea. We have not had that problem on the dry. So we want to discourage canned, but while she's still nursing doesn't seem to be the time to do it. Cookie is small for his age and needs all his momma's milk that he can get, though he has definitely grown since the vet visit and deworming this past Wednesday.

AW hun.... actually canned food IS much better for cats then dry. So important for the moisture content, low carb and meat content. Very important for cats overall health. I would go with what they are telling you and feed the wet food. There are cheaper grain-free wet food out there. What type of canned foods were you feeding Binky when she had the diarrhea? Maybe it was not the canned food? Has she been tested for worms or de-wormed? Can't remember :anon: if you already mentioned this earlier. GLAD to hear they are doing so well

She has been dewormed, and it's the only canned food we can buy. 9 Lives, a chicken blend I think. We don't feed fish blends, though they all seem to have fish in them. Which is why we want to get her off of it. We're going to try to feed her grain free dry food. The canned food is too expensive... it works out to be about $60 a month for two cats, which we don't have. We can afford about $40-50 a month on food for two cats. We're on an SSI income. We brought her in because she had a kitten and our local shelter has an 85% kill rate and they auto put down all cats born outside, which applies to them both. We're trying to do the best we can by them, which is go for a premium dry food rather than the grocery store brand. But, having never owned cats, we didn't know how expensive things would be. We're not sure we can afford to keep them much longer but nobody around here is interested and the closest rescue is full up... After these two bags we may have to switch back to a cheaper food again though I hate it... otherwise we might not be able to afford litter. I wish we could do more for them but at least they're in an air conditioned house rather than 100 degree sun.And yeah the canned food has ALWAYS given her this issue... not so on dry food.

Your doing just great with them!!! - They are being taken care of and that is really what matters, more than what they are being fed. You are doing all you can for them and that is all they really need. Love, care and whatever food you can offer them - they will appreciate it!!! :rub:

Feralvr said:

Your doing just great with them!!! - They are being taken care of and that is really what matters, more than what they are being fed. You are doing all you can for them and that is all they really need. Love, care and whatever food you can offer them - they will appreciate it!!! :rub:

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Absolutely! You do your best with what you have - that's all ANYONE can do! Love is the most important ingredient! :rub: :heart2:

Cookie doing what a kitty does best. He's easily twice the size he was almost three weeks ago.

Revenwyn said:

Cookie doing what a kitty does best. He's easily twice the size he was almost three weeks ago.

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Oh seriously, I have a big smile right now!!!!! COOKIE!!!! Sooooooo incredibly adorable!! and he looks to be in great condition and weight, in fact he looks like a little tank in that photo Oh those cute teeny ears :lovegrin: Are his ears folded??? They are so small, HOW cute!! Thanks so much for this ix:

Yes, his ears do kinda fold down at the tip. He is almost eight weeks and I don't think this is going to change. Binky's father was a tank too, large and powerful body on shorter legs, also had the small ears. His didn't entirely stand up either, and were set rather low and forward facing on his head. He was friendly toward us sometimes, although on his terms. Cookie looks a lot like him. We don't have any pictures of him and it's too late. He had FIV and eventually got run over... he technically was owned by the guy a couple of houses down from us.

Anyway, how long does it take for a female cat to go out of heat after a spay? Binky's calling again, she was spayed last Wednesday.

He's adorable. Can you check with your food bank for wet food? Here where I live the food banks get wet cat food donated and I get a share of it and give it around where I know people are feeding lots of cats.

We don't have a food bank. The closest food bank is over an hour away and we don't have a vehicle. Churches around here do have food pantries but I don't think they receive pet food. They get donations from their members as well as some food from the food bank. Basically the food bank distributes food to churches who have a food pantry, who distribute it to the people. And then you're limited to once every two months.
 

Oh darn..one thing good about living in Washington state is that we have food banks in almost every county. Okay..post something on Craigs list that you could use some wet food donations. Couldn't hurt to ask. The other thing is checking with the supermarket for damaged cans..Also is there any cat rescues in your area at all? Perhaps they could help

There are no cat rescues in our area. Closest one is an hour away and they won't drive any further than 15 minutes. Around here, if you have to drive more than 15 minutes they say "You come from all that way?"

I grew up in California and this is really frustrating.

We're going to try to get our cat to eat our grain free dry food. My husband just boiled down some chicken backs to make stock, and we're going to drizzle stock into the food (it's just the chicken and water) and see if that will tempt her to eat it.

Anyway, newest cute picture!

So apparently Cookie is able to get up onto the "big cat bed" (aka The Couch) on his own. Found him and his momma like this last night.

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :lovegrin2 :lovegrin2 :lovegrin2 SO ADORABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Revenwyn said:

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OH FOR GOODNESS SAKES :lol3: :love: !!!!!!!!!!!! That is THE most adorable picture. Momma and baby. AW I just adore little (big :lol3 Cookie. Binky is beautiful. Please do not worry about her calls. Give her some time - yes, it can take a few weeks for the hormones to completely dissipate. She will settle soon enough. In the meantime, just ENJOY the moments!! They are REALLY precious. :heart3: