need advice on bringing in an outside cat we have been feeding

ohcinders1 · Nov 8, 2012

this cat isn't feral. we have been feeding her for a few weeks and she comes to us and lets us pet her. we have brought her in the house and she will roam around, sit on the couch and sleep some, purr when we pet her, but won't tolerate being indoors for more than an hour or two before shes roaming to the window or door crying to go back out, I highly suspect shes pregnant, her sides buldge slightly. It is getting very cold now and we want to get her acclimated to being inside, but don't know how, should we just force her to stay? we have four cats already and don't really want another one but it seems she wants us!! I will NOT have a cat going outside though , can't stand to think of anything happening to her. Also, if she is pregnant, what on earth are we going to do with the kittens???? someone please give me some much needed advice

ritz · Nov 8, 2012

Thank you so much for taking care of the cat.

There is a saying among people who feed a feral cat colony/stray cats: if you feed, do not let breed. The better the diet, the more likely the cat can get pregnant and will carry the fetuses to term.

I would take her to the vets immediately to confirm pregnancy. Depending on your philosophy, the vet can spay the cat (and abort the fetuses). I work with one s/n clinic who will spay the cat even if the pregnancy is almost full term as long as it doesn't endanger the health of the mother cat.

If you are opposed to terminating pregnancy, then I would try building an outdoor shelter (search on these forums, lots of good ideas, cheap too) and hopefully she'll go in there when it gets really cold. When she is ready to deliver (gets real big), I would bring her inside. A spare bathroom or garage might be less intimidating.

kitsey · Nov 9, 2012

My little former feral Mitten got used to being inside over time. She was 2.5 years old before I first got to pet her Feb 7th, 2011. Feb 24th I got her to walk into the kitchen as long as my back was too her and I didn't move. April 6th she started sleeping inside every night but meowing to go back out every morning, and by May 24th she just never asked to go out again, and she's been inside ever since. Maybe your kitty just needs a bit more time to give up on the wandering.

(also when Mitty was 9 months old I live trapped her and unfortunately she was pregnant already, I made the choice to have the vet spay her...)

merstockgto · Nov 9, 2012

Your story sounds like our story from last year. A feral cat that is about 2 years old was roaming our neighborhood in Fl. and after a year or so we started feeding her early in 2011. One day I noticed she had bulging sides and she was pregant. I borrowed a trap to catch her and called my vet and he agreed to take her in. We had the pregnancy terminated and had her fixed and chipped. She was checked over and all he had was hook worms which we got ride of with RX. That was July 7, 2011. When we brought her home from the vet we kept her in our half bath until Dec. 2011. We had our home up for sale and we needed to keep her in that bath since she was very wild and she got used to us coming in and feeding her and changing her box daily. Anyway we moved to NV. in 2 cars with Sox, our new addition and our 4 other furry one's. They were champs coming across country. Anyway, Sox is no longer afraid of us and interacts with our others and has taken a shine to Ben (solid black mellow guy). She doesn't want us to pick her up but we are able to get right up on her. Your little kitty needs to be in a room by itself until it gets used its surroundings. Sox had a window in our bathroom in Fl. so she could always look out. Sox also would cry for the first couple of weeks wanting outside but she quit doint that. Spend a lot of time with him/her and be patient. It pays off. Our Sox has come so far since we moved here and has the run of the house and she is out in the open all the time. We are so glad we took her off the streets. She had never known a kind hand before we got a hold of her.

killarneyish · Nov 12, 2012

Our daughter took on the care of a formerly feral cat from someone who had finished college. The ca, who is about 3, t seems very nice, but will not allow us to pick him up or cuddle him, and does bite (gently) and swat or scratch when we try to make friends. We have bonded with him, and cannot contemplate him being passed on to others through the years, and at least feel that we need to provide him a home during college breaks. We presently have three cats, one adult female, one adult male and a 6 month old male kitten.

We appear to have several options: (1) keep him shut up in a bedroom during vacations from college and hope to find another temporary home for him in the long term; ; (2) bring him home over Christmas break and try to work him in to our family, with the intention of leaving him at our house for the future; or (3) introducing him to my barn and barn cats and allowing him to return to being an outside cat. He seems to have adapted well, over a few weeks, to his new life in our daughter's apartment, but our primary concern is the turmoil and lack of certainty y he will experience when either integrating him into our cat family and keeping him here, or sending him back to college and understanding that he will be passed on through the years.

I know from the various websites that a kitten not socialized by 8-12 weeks will not get socialized, and from our short acquaintance, we do not know what his experiences have been, or his ability or willingness to become a member of a three-cat, two person household.

Your thoughts on what would be in Mac's best interests would be greatly appreciated.

Camille Bathurst

tjcarst · Nov 12, 2012

killarneyish said:
Our daughter took on the care of a formerly feral cat from someone who had finished college. The ca, who is about 3, t seems very nice, but will not allow us to pick him up or cuddle him, and does bite (gently) and swat or scratch when we try to make friends. We have bonded with him, and cannot contemplate him being passed on to others through the years, and at least feel that we need to provide him a home during college breaks. We presently have three cats, one adult female, one adult male and a 6 month old male kitten.

We appear to have several options: (1) keep him shut up in a bedroom during vacations from college and hope to find another temporary home for him in the long term; ; (2) bring him home over Christmas break and try to work him in to our family, with the intention of leaving him at our house for the future; or (3) introducing him to my barn and barn cats and allowing him to return to being an outside cat. He seems to have adapted well, over a few weeks, to his new life in our daughter's apartment, but our primary concern is the turmoil and lack of certainty y he will experience when either integrating him into our cat family and keeping him here, or sending him back to college and understanding that he will be passed on through the years.

I know from the various websites that a kitten not socialized by 8-12 weeks will not get socialized, and from our short acquaintance, we do not know what his experiences have been, or his ability or willingness to become a member of a three-cat, two person household.

Your thoughts on what would be in Mac's best interests would be greatly appreciated.

Camille Bathurst

I think integrating the new guy into your current cat family can work and might be better than the alternative to going back to college.

You will get more replies if you post this in a new thread.

tjcarst · Nov 12, 2012

Ohcinders1

Do you think she will be able to get along with your other cats? Do you have friends who might be able to provide good homes to the kittens? Is there a local no kill shelter or rescue group who might be able to find homes or foster the kittens until they find homes?

merstockgto · Nov 13, 2012

We took in a feral cat in July 2011 in Fl. and it was a true feral. She was terrified of us and she was about 2 plus years old. We trapped her and had her fixed and she has a sweet personality and is not agressive at all. We decided to keep her and it has paid off. It is said that the ideal age to try and domesticate a feral is 8-12 weeks buy it all depends on the animal. Sox as we call our former feral now has the run of the house after having kept her separate from our other 4 kitties. We gave her a lot of love and talked to her a lot and now she mingles with the other cats and is out in the open most of the time. She does not want us to touch her but is not afraid of us anymore. Just be patient with with this feral and see what happens. It is amazing what a kind hand and voice can do for an animal.

need advice on bringing in an outside cat we have been feeding

ohcinders1

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ritz

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kitsey

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