Hi!

Hi, I just joined today when looking for advice on dealing with a new stray/feral.  Our family consists of myself, my husband and now 6 cats. 

Ghost (10), my feral FIV+ girl who we trapped at 1 ½ years old when her mother and brother disappeared (we couldn’t leave her out there alone). 

Then there’s Tinky (9), the lost little lady who took weeks to trust us before one rainy, icy night she ran up to my husband for help.  Soaking wet and shivering from the cold, we discovered she was declawed and extremely underweight and brought her in immediately.  She was also spayed.  We put up signs but no one ever claimed her. 

Next is Goblin (8), the boy who attacked feet if you walked too close (maybe from being kicked by other humans).  He doesn’t do that anymore. 

Molly (8) is our resident PITA (pain in the a**) but we deal with her occasional tendency to not use the litter box and just put doggie training pads in her favorite places to be bad.  She came to us spayed and extremely underweight.  I think her litterbox issues got her kicked out of her previous home.  We’ve had her checked many many times for disease, infection, etc. but the vet can’t find anything wrong. 

Jack (6), the big, bad tomcat who had quite a few battle scars but turned out to be the biggest orange marshmallow I’ve ever seen. 

Lastly there’s Snowball (age TBD).  He is the reason I found your site.  Right now he hates everything about us (he’s only been with us 3 days).  I’ve already got some really good advice from the site for ways on getting him to the vet to be fixed. 

It's been 3 years since I've dealt with a new feral and I'm having doubts about what is in Snowball's best interests but hopefully over the next few months he will begin to trust us and we can start to introduce him to the other furry members of his new family.

OMG, I love you!  I am also a newbie to this site.  I joined last night while looking for a way to take care of a stray I found on my front porch.  Yes, I keep food and water for the strays, ferals that pass thru.  I happened to look out the door at the EXACT time a stunning grey kittie was eating from my bowl.  LONG story short.. 3 days later she had been kept in my garage, I have 4 indoor babies and 5 plus outdoor/feral kitties.  The baby was beat up and smelled awful.  I was very worried it might be feline AIDS.  I have had to put down 3 other strays that tested positive for it.  It is hard to get attached to strays when you worry about what they carry and can transmit to the other healthy kitties.  So anyway.. she showed up Friday smelling, dirty, huge missing patch of fur.  VERY sweet.  I kept her in the garage and cuddled her, talked to her, cleaned her.  Monday I called Animal Control before taking her to the vet.  I am already over my limit for the LEGAL amount of pets in my county.  Seriously.  I still would have kept her.  My big worry was that she would need to be put down due to AIDS.  Animal control gave me 3 numbers for missing cats that matched her description.  The second call was a winner. WOW.  My best case was that she was healthy and I would need to find her a new family as I was not able to keep her.  She had been missing for over 2 months and traveled 2 miles. When her mommie picked her up, 10 minutes after calling her, my husband was crying like a baby.  I was not.  I told him I had cried every time I went outside and held her and cuddled her. 

Okay, you need a have a heart trap to get your new cat to the vet.  I think that once he has been fixed he will probably be in a better mood. 

Murphy is my newest indoor kittie and he is a feral.  His 2 brothers were to wild to be kept inside.  I had them fixed and released them to my yard.  Murphy still hides from my 16 year old daughter but will come to me and sometimes my husband.  I t hink time is the best way to heal them.  And

treats, my cats love treats.  They can tell time as they get treats at the same time every day. 

Good luck and God Bless!

p.s.  It has been a long day and I have had 3 glasses of wine so I am probably rambling but I mean well!

Hi, welcome to TCS!  Daisy used to feel the same way about us as Snowball does about you.  It took time...I was even scared of her at first...but now I can't imagine life without her.  (And I'm pretty sure she can't imagine life without us now, either.) 

Thanks for the encouragement.  Snowball scares me too.  He's really big too which doesn't help either. 

Thank you for your reply.  I know what you mean about heartbreak with these cats.  I've lost quite a few who've just gone missing from our yard one day never to return.  I had to euthanize two of my outdoor cats due to injury and one (Ghost's mom) due to leukemia.  I have already trapped and brought Snowball inside.  But we messed up and released him into the bathroom because we couldn't get him to the vet for 2 days and I didn't want to leave him in the trap that long.  Our other ferals allowed some contact so it was never an issue getting to the vet, but Snowball won't let us get near at all.  He's currently hiding out in a bathroom cupboard, but I've propped open the cupboard doors now, hoping he'll hide in the covered carrier I moved into the room.  I can't use the baited trap again because it's too big for the bathroom.  But a previous poster suggested the cat carrier trick, so I'm hoping that it won't be long before he takes refuge there and I just close the door and carry him to the vet. .