Must take semi-feral with me. Help!

There is a semi-feral that adopted me. She had two brothers who passed away. I have been caring for them (and now just her) for 9 years. I am moving and need to take her with me. I want to make her an inside cat. I need advice on trapping her. I read this thread and it made perfect sense. http://www.straypetadvocacy.org/socializing_a_feral_cat.html

Also emailed the Alley Cat Alliance for advice and am waiting to hear back.

Mute is going to be 12 in January and it wouldn't have happened if a now ex-resident and myself hadn't cared for them. The ex-neighbor did a TNR with the litter and returned them to the alley. She was told Mute would never tolerate human contact, and I have proven them wrong with intense time and care over these years. She follows me everywhere I go, I can call her upstairs. Mute is extremely docile and physically affectionate with me, scared of others unless I am with her and she gets a good vibe off of me towards them.

Mute has survived brutal Chicago winters because I have two houses outside for her. I use a heated Snuggle Safe disc in between layers of her blanket in the houses so she can stay warm at night. When it snows, I go outside constantly to sweep snow so her feet don't get soaked and snow doesn't blow into her houses.

I must leave this apartment and have only been renewing my lease so I could continue to take care of her. I have MS so I work from home and have all the time, love and patience in the world to work on transitioning her. She will die for sure if I don't take her with. She will have no one to care for her or feed her, and the new tenants will throw her houses out.

I can't leave her behind, but can't stay here. We have an intense bond. I can do this, she can do this, I just need pointers on how to get her inside here. I have a few days overlay where I can move out, come back here and work with her.

I did read that transitioning litter box wise entails getting dirt she is familiar with, using it as litter, and slowly moving toward "normal litter." I know all the places she pees and have no problem taking bags of it to the new place to use. I have been researching this for years for when this time came. It's now.

Please help me save her! Thank you so much for any advice!

Tracy

Hi Tracy! Mute is VERY lucky to have you loving her. :heart3: Wonderful that you will take her with you and give her a safe indoor life and at her age, she will be ready. I have seen it happen with senior feral cats. After so many years living and surviving in the outdoors, they know when enough is enough. Mute surely will not survive without you now as she is completely attached to you, trusts you and relies on you for her food, comfort and care. Here is an article that will guide you along in the process. http://www.catnipchronicles.com/may2012/laurie.htm

I would start feeding her inside a medium sized crate right away. Since she is so close to you and allows your presence, she will readily go inside the crate to eat. Maybe not on the first day, but the next. Only put the food inside this crate and prop the door open. Once she is comfortable going inside to eat then you are ready to close the door on moving day. This has worked for me many, many times over and over in past years especially with feral cats that have come to trust me like your Mute has you. BEST OF LUCK with your new journey with Mute.

I have one cat that I had been feeding outside for probably 6 months (a feral kitty) and we had to move out of state.  And I could not leave her either. To get her in the house, I opened my door and put trails of cheese leading into the house.  Once she was inside, I just shut the door.  It's been so many years ago that I don't remember how I crated her, but that's how I got her in the house.  I still have her and she runs in and out now.(STAR)

Feralvr's idea is great.....

Jenn

Thank you so, so very much! You have no idea how much you've calmed my nerves. I'm new and want to tell you folks how relieved and grateful I am that I found you! It was a long road, but I got here. 

One thing I can do is rent a trap from Tree House, but my concern is that she is so smart, she won't fall for it. I'm going to try the crate suggestion, and my mom orderded a harp CD from Amazon. 

The hope here is that she is tired of living like this. I'm getting completely ready for this transition but first things first, I have to get her. My mom agreed to taking her directly to the vet once she's "captive", my new place will be ready for her, and I'll have an accessible bookshelf for her if she wants to get up high to surveil her  new surroundings. 

If she reverts to total feral behavior and it's like a reset button, I've invested 9 years in her so I have all the time in the world to comfort her and regain her trust. She probably will never be a lap cat, but knowing she's safe, healthy, and taken complete care of will take a load off my mind. I love this little girl with all my heart! She likes my cats, they like her, I anticipate some weirdness integrating, but I'm prepared to do whatever it takes. :O)

Those links are invaluable, I can't thank you enough! Excellent information that soothed my nerves about managing this. Bless you guys!!

Tracy

Hi, everyone!

I wanted to post an update. I'm moving the morning of Nov. 11th (actually, in a few hours here in Chicago!) and I successfully trapped Mute Friday night with a trap I rented from the Tree House of Chicago. It's a $65 deposit that they just hold on to in the event one does not return the trap. It is available to you for 2 weeks, but is extendable provided they are not low on traps. So, I put her canned food dinner at the back of it, she stepped on the "ramp" and the door closed behind her. When I return the trap, I want them to keep the $65 as a donation for the amazing services they provide. 
http://www.treehouseanimals.org/site/PageServer?pagename=home

Of course, she was hysterical wondering what just happened. I went to my back porch, spoke softly and quietly to her, put her crate up on top of the entertainment center so she could check out her current scenery from up above. I sprayed a blanket with Feliway, draped it over the top & sides of the trap, and it quieted her down quite a bit. 

Saturday, we went to the vet where she got a full exam and full blood work (under sedation) and is in perfect health! I was so relieved, especially since she is 12 and has been outside all of her life.

She does have a UTI, and the vet gave her an injection of an antibiotic that continues working for 2 weeks, so that will be cleared up.

At the moment I feel horrible because I can not let her out of the trap until we are safely at our new place. It's killing me! She lets me open the trap and pet her without any problems at all, has not resorted back to any feral behavior (other than aimed at the vets and techs - who wouldn't if they were her!) She is eating just fine, loves treats, but is quietly mewing right now. I want so badly to let her out, but I can't for probably another 10 hours when everything is finished and my stuff  is at the new place and all the cats have been transported. I let her out for an hour last night, locked in the bathroom, hoping she would either use the litter box or "do her business" in the tub or on the floor even, but she didn't. If she goes while in her trap, she will clearly let me switch blankets without so much as a hiss or swat.  I am hoping that will be the case because first night getting her back in the trap was very difficult and I have battle scars from it, but that's okay. I can handle trauma much better than she can. I just worry about her holding it in, that's a possible cause of the UTI. 

So, after my uncles get everything out of this place and into the new place, I will finally be able to let her out! I have a French door with glass panes (letting her watch me and my 2 cats without any interaction between them until she mellows and maybe a couple of days for the med to start clearing up the UTI)  that separates the DR/kitchen from the LR/BR. so the DR/kitchen will her safe space. There will be a brand new litterbox in there with Cat Attract litter, a Feliway diffuser, and harp/classical music playing to soothe her nerves. She has been so amazingly quiet and first battle to see if she even still knew me as her caregiver were won successfully, she let me pet her and made no fuss, and enjoyed it. Grateful as can be for that, some sites warned a 180 back to full feral is a definite possibility, but not with my little lady!

I will check back in, in a couple of days with a status update. I can't thank you kind and wonderful people enough for quelling my fears over this situation, I was prepared for the worst not only with the trap, getting her in and how her health might be and so far beyond amazing! The information, personal stories, support and encouragement were exactly what I needed to know this was the right thing to do. 
THANK YOU!!
Tracy
 

So glad for you and Mute!   What a wonderful success

Vibes for a smooth and trouble-free move

That's wonderful 

What a positive experience!

l hope your move went well and the kitties are managing. Keep us posted.

Oh what a wonderful, wonderful thing you're doing! :rub:

I hope you're getting settled - and will have time to update soon! :cross:

Vibes all has gone smoothly!

Mute is sooo lucky.  I am so glad to hear that you are caring for an older stray.  They were often someone's pet.  Best of luck and it sounds like all is well.
 

Thanks, everyone! Mute is doing stellar! She used the litter box immediately which blew my mind! Sally, she's actually a feral, she and her brothers (they both died :O( ) were born in our alley, but I didn't live there then. We got moved, I am trying to unpack...she didn't do a 180 and revert to being feral at all, she's not crying at the door like I was afraid she might, and my other 2 cats are getting used to their new house mate. This could not have gone any more smoothly, it is such a relief, and I am ecstatic!! So very, very happy to have my girl with me, she is happy, healthy, warm and dry. YAAAY!!!!

Wonderful!  So glad everything is working out for your happy little family.  :-)

[SIZE]4[/SIZE] hi Tracy
What a beautiful story about your feral mute. I am so glad that after 12 years you were able to bring her in. I have a feral name Bella. I have her 5 years now. She lives on my porch and is very happy. I have. A heated house and a heated Matt. She just loves me. She gets to the door and wants. Me out there to sit with her But it is getting cold. Me and my husband would like to move to a bigger place but I will stay just for my Bella. But reading your story made me think that maybe I could move . I have a indoor cat and a little dog. My dog just loves her. They walk together every morning. It is the cutesy thing to see. I open the door for her to come in every morning but she will not come in. We thi k she might be 9 or 10 she came one day and never left. Thank you so much for your story it had a great ending. Enjoy her

You can do it, Linda! I love that your dog walks with her, that is so sweet! Humans could really learn a thing (or 10) from animals. I stayed for my girl, too, but I had to move from there and couldn't imagine not having her with me. She just refused to come into the last place but with the trap, she did a fabulous job and is happy (although I posted in the behavior forum because my boy decided to turn into a bully out of nowhere and I have them separated now  )

Could you and your husband think about it and consider taking her in? I think that since I spent 9 years with Mute, that it made a big difference. They get to see that we are calm and loving, are not a threat, and come to decide it's time. 

I'm really interested in the products you used for heat. Can you post links for others in this position? There were no plugs on my back porch so I didn't get a mat - also, I was scared she would get electrocuted - so I found the Snuggle Safe disc and it was a lifesaver, especially being in Chicago with our winters. 

Here's the link:
http://www.healthypets.com/snugglesafe.html?gclid=CLG1vvrimbQCFY9DMgod6T4AIg

Best of luck, Linda!!

Hi Tracy I would never leave my bell. He is slowly coming in the door half way than turns around and goes right back out. Yesterday was the first time in 5 years that he came and sat on my lap. I was so happy.I also use the snuggle Safe disk along with the heated mat. He is nice and warm in his igloo. The heat mat is made for outdoor use. It is called lector soft heated pet bed. It only gets warm when the cat lays on it. It's great. I bought it on amazon .we want bell to come in but he wants to be out side. I also have an indoor cat . She does not like him. But they do sit next to each other right by the door between the glass.

Oh Tracy, I'm SO glad all went well and she's such a love! :rub: :heart2:

I'll go see your post in behavior... we had an issue with our last rescue boy. The kitty that is normally our ambassador kitty got hostile.