I just trapped a cat we've been feeding for a while. After taking him to the vet to get checked out, turns out he's 8, been neutered already....we ordered a bath, nail clipping, defleaing, Revolution, FELV/FIV testing, etc.... Turns out he tested positive for FIV, so we ordered the Western Block test to see if it's from a vaccination or active. He never had his ear snipped to indicate he was TNR'd nor did he have a microchip. So I'm crossing my fingers that it's just from the vaccine.
We brought him home and separated him from our other two cats who are 1 year old. We initially put the stray cat in the bathroom but once he came to from the anesthesia, he freaked out and escaped when my husband and I went to check on the commotion. He ran downstairs and we let him be....he huddled under a shelf and wouldn't eat or drink or use the bathroom the rest of the evening....Then, the next day, we sat in the room with him, went about our business, and kept very quiet....He slowly creeped out of the corner later and ate a little. All the while, we used kid gates to keep our other cats at bay....They could not take their eyes off him and would often chirp at him through the banisters. After the first day home, the stray was like an all new cat! He is so affectionate, so gentle despite the fact he's 15 pounds and a Tomcat, and he is just the most friendly boy....He is skiddish still and quite sensitive so we do our best to not make sudden movements/noises around him.
After a few days, we removed the kid gates (after reading so much about FIV and the transmission rate through deep bites and scratches), I feel with our supervision this was the best call since all the cats were becoming almost too curious and hard to contain with stair banisters. The other cats would came downstairs and sniff him, feel him out....at first, I thought my girl cat liked him since she followed him around and didn't hiss....Our boy cat who was weaned too early, totally attached to me, and gets easily stressed....and he HATES our stray we dubbed Ernest. He hisses from afar, hisses up close, trills at him....he's even started to hiss and swipe at our other girl cat who has been raised together! Our girl cat is usually just soo sweet and our boy cat has always been a bit quirky....so, I was caught off guard when the girl cat started hissing at our stray, too! Ernest has gradually summoned enough courage to come up the stairs after three days with a lot of encouragement and only if my husband, brother and me are around. Yet, he is so sensitive and the other cats will definitely scare/intimidate him down the stairs in a flash! My girl cat and he have calmed down a bit.....she tolerates him for the most part except for when he was upstairs earlier, she hissed at him and scared him . Our boy cat...forget it! We do keep them separated when we go to bed behind closed doors.....our original cats with us and our stray sleeps on the sofa where he feels safe.
When our boy cats hisses and swipes at the stray or my girl cat, we have been spraying him with water. It doesn't seem to really do anything....should we stop this and try another tactic? We shower all of them with attention since we know this must be hard...but our boy cat has always been a bit of a trouble maker.....water does little for him, he craves constant attention and lashes out by scratching furniture, the toilet paper, etc...when we don't give it to him....How should we handle these three cats that we love? Our stray kitty isn't going anywhere, and seems to really like us, but I don't want him to feel like he is isolated to the first floor forever! He NEVER reacts, hisses, siwpes, growls...anything! He is a big teddy bear and is stressed by the other cats' aggression toward him! What should we do? I spray Feliway and it doesn't seem to work....At night, we have been taking our two cats into our bedroom and they seem fine with each other/like normal....
Any advice will be welcome! I don't want any blood and at this rate, I'm afraid my little boy cat doesn't realize how much bigger my stray is if he had to truly defend himself....not that I ever think this would happen since our stray just hides and runs away....
Thanks!
We brought him home and separated him from our other two cats who are 1 year old. We initially put the stray cat in the bathroom but once he came to from the anesthesia, he freaked out and escaped when my husband and I went to check on the commotion. He ran downstairs and we let him be....he huddled under a shelf and wouldn't eat or drink or use the bathroom the rest of the evening....Then, the next day, we sat in the room with him, went about our business, and kept very quiet....He slowly creeped out of the corner later and ate a little. All the while, we used kid gates to keep our other cats at bay....They could not take their eyes off him and would often chirp at him through the banisters. After the first day home, the stray was like an all new cat! He is so affectionate, so gentle despite the fact he's 15 pounds and a Tomcat, and he is just the most friendly boy....He is skiddish still and quite sensitive so we do our best to not make sudden movements/noises around him.
After a few days, we removed the kid gates (after reading so much about FIV and the transmission rate through deep bites and scratches), I feel with our supervision this was the best call since all the cats were becoming almost too curious and hard to contain with stair banisters. The other cats would came downstairs and sniff him, feel him out....at first, I thought my girl cat liked him since she followed him around and didn't hiss....Our boy cat who was weaned too early, totally attached to me, and gets easily stressed....and he HATES our stray we dubbed Ernest. He hisses from afar, hisses up close, trills at him....he's even started to hiss and swipe at our other girl cat who has been raised together! Our girl cat is usually just soo sweet and our boy cat has always been a bit quirky....so, I was caught off guard when the girl cat started hissing at our stray, too! Ernest has gradually summoned enough courage to come up the stairs after three days with a lot of encouragement and only if my husband, brother and me are around. Yet, he is so sensitive and the other cats will definitely scare/intimidate him down the stairs in a flash! My girl cat and he have calmed down a bit.....she tolerates him for the most part except for when he was upstairs earlier, she hissed at him and scared him . Our boy cat...forget it! We do keep them separated when we go to bed behind closed doors.....our original cats with us and our stray sleeps on the sofa where he feels safe.
When our boy cats hisses and swipes at the stray or my girl cat, we have been spraying him with water. It doesn't seem to really do anything....should we stop this and try another tactic? We shower all of them with attention since we know this must be hard...but our boy cat has always been a bit of a trouble maker.....water does little for him, he craves constant attention and lashes out by scratching furniture, the toilet paper, etc...when we don't give it to him....How should we handle these three cats that we love? Our stray kitty isn't going anywhere, and seems to really like us, but I don't want him to feel like he is isolated to the first floor forever! He NEVER reacts, hisses, siwpes, growls...anything! He is a big teddy bear and is stressed by the other cats' aggression toward him! What should we do? I spray Feliway and it doesn't seem to work....At night, we have been taking our two cats into our bedroom and they seem fine with each other/like normal....
Any advice will be welcome! I don't want any blood and at this rate, I'm afraid my little boy cat doesn't realize how much bigger my stray is if he had to truly defend himself....not that I ever think this would happen since our stray just hides and runs away....
Thanks!
