New rescue baby, need advice

Good morning!!

I am now the proud mom of a new rescue cat.  She was living at a gas station out in the boonies.  According to the cashier she's been hit a couple of times, people throw stuff and kick at her.  My friend and her kids stopped there for gas and saw that some boys had her pinned under a bench, kicking her and poking sticks at her.  They were very ugly to my friend when she intervened.  They finally left the cat but hovered nearby so she took the cat with her.  She has 5 dogs and a cat already and was risking divorce should she bring home another so I took her.  She's ultra sweet.. and FIV+.  She's currently in her own bedroom.  She's slept pretty much since I brought her home when she wasn't eating.  

I'm wondering what sort of issues might I be looking at with a rescued street kitty.  Anything I should watch for?  I'm not introducing her to the rest of the house for a long while.  I want her to be more sure of herself and her surrounding plus I want the others to get used to her smell, etc.  

Thanks much!!

Donna

Oh my goodness what a sweet looking cat and you're a swell person for rescuing her.

You say she is FIV+--does that mean you've taken her to the vets?  Is she spayed?  Getting de-wormed?  Any idea how old she is?

How friendly is she?  Maybe she was abandoned, someone's pet at one time?  In which case, socializing will take less time. 

That said, she may have some trust issues because of people hitting her.  She may be leary longer than a socialized cat, possibly act scared at the slightest noise, unusual movement from you.  (Like Ritz still does, herself a rescued cat.)

Otherwise, you'll facing pretty much the same issues as if Kitty [name? Donna?] were a cat you brought home from the shelter. 

And congrats on being a new mommy!

PS:  you might want to look in the Caring for Strays and Ferals forum for more advice.

Ritz said:

PS:  you might want to look in the Caring for Strays and Ferals forum for more advice.

Click to expand...

I shall ask a mod to move your whole thread in there, best so I think. 

Welcome to our Forums!

Good luck!

Bless you for caring for this kitty! Having her in her own room is a great idea - she and your current pets will need time to get used to one another. I have a friend who has two 14-year-old FIV+ kitties who live with and interact with her other pets with no problems.

I would say a vet check is the first order of business if you haven't done that already. She a lucky little kitty to have found you!

See the posts by LDG (Laurie).  Her Chumley is also FIV+, so she has a lot of experience.

Thanks y'all!  Yes, she's been to the vet.  I've made an appt to return Thursday for her shots and to talk more about the FIV+ thing.  I was freaked out at first but I've done a lot of research.  Georgia seems to be doing very well.  I do plan to take it slow and easy though.  

By the way, her name is Georgia, the state where she was rescued.    

Thank you for your advice.  I appreciate y'all more than you know!

thank you so very much for saving Georgia - she is a beautiful girl!

don't let the FIV scare you. i had a feral FIV+ cat that showed up at my colony with a severe eye infection as well as an upper respiratory infection. the vet hospital wanted to kill him since they have a misguided policy of not returning + feral cats. long story short - he was returned to me after 4 days of treatment at the vet, was fostered at my parents house (didn't want to risk spreading the URI and their cat had died recently) and was socialized as he recovered. my parents really fell in love with him, so he has ended up staying with them. he is roughly 10 years old right now and has not had any health issues since he first showed up a year ago.

i also have a +/- 7 year old FIV+ feral cat that has lived in my colony for about three years now. just recently was the first medical "issue" that she has had in her time here- she developed an infection in her tear duct. after the first sign of the infection i got some antibiotics (clavamox) from the shelter. after three years of living here there has been no spread of the disease to any of the others - so do not stress over that.

imo, all you need to do with a FIV+ is to pay attention to any changes/issues health-wise so you can treat it asap and feed as good of a food as you can so that her defenses are as strong as possible.

i am guessing that Laurie showed you this site, but just in case she has not http://www.fivtherapy.com/index.htm


thank you again for what you have done for Georgia!